![]() On a tribune in Red Square, Putin praised soldiers taking part in the war in Ukraine and urged Russians to stand together. There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied involvement. Last week, Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin that it called an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Putin. It wasn’t clear whether their decisions were taken in coordination with the Kremlin. Regional officials blamed unspecified “security concerns” or vaguely referred to “the current situation” for the restrictions and cancelations. Russian media counted 24 cities that also scrapped military parades-another staple of the celebrations-for the first time in years. “That seems to be for fear that those people who have lost their relatives in this current war on Ukraine might actually join the processions and show just the scale of the casualties that Russia has suffered in its current war,” Giles said. Meanwhile, the traditional Immortal Regiment processions, in which crowds take to the streets holding portraits of relatives who died or served in World War II-a pillar of the holiday-were canceled in multiple cities. Nor did they seem to have armored fighting vehicles.… So there was nothing new on display.” “Normally they show off all the really modern stuff, and they didn’t have any of those. But so much of that military might has already been mauled in Ukraine that Russia has very little to show on its parade in Red Square,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at London’s Chatham House think tank.Īs a display of military hardware it was “very underwhelming,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor of war studies at King’s College London, noting that the T-34, the iconic World War II tank, was the only tank on display. “This is supposed to be a showpiece for Russian military might. The Kremlin’s forces deployed in Ukraine are defending a front line stretching more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), presumably thinning the ranks of troops available for such displays. “We’re upset, but that’s all right it will be better in the future.” ![]() ![]() There are no tanks,” said Yelena Orlova, watching the vehicles rumble down Moscow’s Novy Arbat Avenue after leaving Red Square. There was no fly-over of military jets, and the event lasted less than the usual hour. Even the procession in 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, featured some 13,000 soldiers, and last year, 11,000 troops took part. Some 8,000 troops took part in the parade in Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday-the lowest number since 2008. But this year’s celebrations were markedly smaller, at least partially because of security concerns after several drone attacks have been reported inside Russia. Putin has often used patriotic rhetoric that harkens back to the earlier war in an effort to rally his citizens and forces-and May 9 is one of the most important dates in the Russian political calendar. “A real war has been unleashed against our motherland.” “Today civilization is once again at a decisive turning point,” Putin said at the annual commemorations celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Kyiv and its Western allies say they pose no such threat and that Moscow’s war is meant to deter Western influence in a country that Russia considers part of its sphere of influence. The Russian leader has repeatedly sought to paint his invasion of Ukraine as necessary to defend against a Western threat. Ukrainian authorities said air defenses destroyed 23 of 25 missiles launched. ![]() Putin’s remarks came just hours after Moscow fired its latest barrage of cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than 14 months ago. ![]() President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that the West has unleashed “a real war” against Russia, reprising a familiar refrain at scaled-down Victory Day celebrations that may reflect the toll the Ukraine conflict is taking on his forces. ![]()
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