I’ve attended many Victory Day parades on Red Square.
This year’s version felt very different.
In previous years I’ve had to sprint from the media bus that normally parks up by St Basils’ Cathedral, in order to nab a decent spot in the press area at the side of the square.
No running was required this year. There were far fewer journalists at the event. Many international media organisations had not been granted access.
“Steve, you’re proof that foreign media have been allowed in,” beamed the reporter.
“Not really,” I replied. “I can’t see any others.”
I was glad to be there, though. To see for myself what Victory Parade 2026 would look like.
As well as fewer journalists, there were fewer guests in the stands, and fewer world leaders had flown in for the spectacle.
But the biggest difference became evident once the parade got under way.
There were no tanks, no rocket launchers, no intercontinental ballistic missiles on display – none of the military hardware which the Kremlin normally showcases on Victory Day to project Russian military power on the international stage.
Getty ImagesThat’s because this year’s parade had been scaled back (hence fewer guests and fewer journalists). The authorities had cited security concerns, fearing Ukraine might target Red Square with drones.
President Vladimir Putin will have been reluctant to pare back a parade that is always choreographed to portray Russian strength. But fear of a potential Ukrainian attack forced the change.
In the end, the parade passed off without incident. There was no attack. A last-minute ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by Donald Trump, reduced the danger of that.
On Friday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree “permitting” Russia to hold the parade.
Ukraine’s trolling wasn’t appreciated by Moscow.
A Kremlin spokesman commented that Russia didn’t need anyone’s permission to hold the Victory Parade.
AFP via Getty ImagesAnd what about all that military hardware I mentioned earlier?
We may not have seen it on the square. But we did see it on a screen.
Multiple rocket launchers, fighter jets, tanks, submarines and other weaponry flashed up on giant screens that had been set up on Red Square.
The Kremlin appears to have decided that if couldn’t parade its military hardware in public, a video presentation was the next best thing.
“We always were and always will be victorious!” declared President Putin in his speech.
The Soviet Union was victorious 81 years ago. Russia can truly celebrate what it calls the “Great Victory” of 1945. It pushed back and defeated an aggressor.
And it celebrated that today on Red Square.
But the Ukraine war is a very different war. Russia invaded Ukraine more than four years ago. And, right now, for Russia, there is no sign of victory.
