Russia will hold its Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square next week without tanks, missiles and other military equipment for the first time in nearly two decades, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Kremlin has long used the annual parade—marked on May 9, Russia’s most important secular holiday—to display military power, and the Defense Ministry said this year’s 81st anniversary event will proceed without cadets as well. The ministry cited the “current operational situation” when explaining why the equipment will not roll through the square.
The decision marks the first time in nearly two decades, and during Russia’s more than four-year war in Ukraine, that no military equipment will appear on Red Square on May 9, the Associated Press reported. Victory Day parades on Red Square have included military hardware and weaponry every year since 2008, while smaller parades are held in other cities, including St. Petersburg.
In comments reported Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukraine, accusing it of “terrorist activity,” in what the report described as a reference to drone strikes inside Russia. The AP described attacks in recent months reaching locations deep inside Russia, including the Baltic port of Ust-Luga to the north of Moscow, the Samara region near the border with Kazakhstan, and the Perm region in the Ural mountains.
“All measures are being taken to minimize the danger,” Peskov told reporters, according to the AP report. The Defense Ministry said the parade will include “servicemen from higher military educational institutions of all kinds and certain service branches of the Russian Armed Forces,” and it will feature a traditional military aircraft flyover.
Separate from the parade planning, Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call later Wednesday that he was ready to declare a ceasefire with Ukraine for the Victory Day holiday, according to presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov said Trump supported the idea because the holiday marks “our common victory over fascism” in World War II.
The Kremlin has continued to treat World War II as a unifying pillar in Russia’s politically divided history, and analysts say the Victory Day parade has served as a tool for national pride and messaging. Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute, told the Associated Press that removing tanks, missile systems and other military hardware from the Red Square parade could reduce the event’s propaganda value for domestic audiences, even as security concerns are the most likely explanation.
Seskuria also said the absence of heavy equipment could reflect practical military considerations, including preserving equipment, avoiding highlighting battlefield losses, and reducing the exposure of valuable military assets. She added that the decision could signal vulnerability rather than strength, pointing to Russia’s demonstrations of new tanks and drones in previous years during celebrations that drew invited world leaders.
The AP report said last year’s parade for the 80th anniversary was the largest since Russia sent troops into Ukraine and drew a large group of global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico. Fico will attend this year as well, Ushakov said, along with other foreign dignitaries.
That 2025 parade included more than 11,500 troops and more than 180 military vehicles, including tanks and artillery used on the battlefield in Ukraine, as well as Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles and drones carried on military trucks, with fighter jets flying over Red Square. Putin had declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire starting May 7, 2025, and authorities blocked cellphone internet in Moscow for several days to avert Ukrainian drone attacks, the AP report said. In 2023, Russia scaled down the parade, using fewer troops and military equipment and omitting a flyover.
In the Soviet era, the first Red Square parade marking the defeat of Nazi Germany took place on June 24, 1945, and was held on May 9 several times afterward, with the last Soviet-era parade in 1990. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the parades resumed in 1995, and in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities moved the parade to June 24.