Russian President Vladimir Putin was forced to cut back the annual military parade on Saturday amid the war in Ukraine. On Victory Day, May 9, Putin spoke in front of hundreds of military personnel to celebrate the end of World War 2 and the defeat of Nazi Germany, taking away the lives of 27 million Soviet citizens. But what’s normally a large parade displaying Russia’s range of military equipment was massively curtailed this year, with no armoured vehicles or ballistic missiles featured in Red Square. That marks the first time in nearly 20 years.
Russian authorities previously said that there would be no showcase of heavy military hardware. “Our tanks are busy right now,” Russian MP Yevgeny Popov told the BBC earlier this week. “They are fighting. We need them more on the battlefield than on Red Square.” Instead, a series of pre-produced videos reportedly from the Ukrainian frontlines was broadcast on screens and aired across state media.
The decision not to show off any military hardware at the parade this year was made in large part because of the threat of Ukraine’s increasingly effective long-range drones, Kyiv Independent reports.
North Korean troops marched on Red Square for the first time as the ties between Moscow and Pyongyang grow. However, neither North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un nor Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared on Red Square during the 2025 parade in Moscow.
Still, Putin tried to put on a brave face.
Addressing the crowd during the celebrations, he said: “The Nazis treacherously attacked the Soviet Union, planning to seize the country and its vast resources, completely destroy its culture and historical heritage, and, finally, exterminate, enslave, and commit genocide against the entire multinational Soviet people — that is, all the peoples, nations, and ethnic groups of the Soviet Union.”
He didn’t forget to denounce Ukraine and NATO.
He said: “The great feat of the victorious generation inspires the soldiers carrying out tasks of the special military operation today. They are standing up to an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And yet, our heroes march forward.”
Marches also took place in a number of other cities including Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, and St Petersburg, state media reported.
Other parades were called off altogether.
