Moscow’s May 9 Parade to Exclude Military Hardware for First Time Since 1945

Russia’s annual May 9 Victory Day parade on Red Square will be held without columns of military equipment for the first time since 1945, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday.

The ministry said the decision was linked to the “current operational situation,” Russian media reported.

The parade will include Russian army personnel, aviation teams and Su-25 attack aircraft, but no traditional columns of tanks, armored vehicles or other heavy military hardware are planned.

Students from Suvorov and Nakhimov military schools, as well as cadet corps, will also not take part in the parade, reportedly because of the “operational situation.”

Instead, the event is expected to focus mainly on marching foot columns, including personnel from military educational institutions and branches of the armed forces.

Russian reports said the aviation segment may still include aerobatic teams and Su-25 aircraft, with planes expected to paint the sky in the colors of the Russian flag.

The parade broadcast will also reportedly include footage of Russian personnel currently deployed in the so-called “special military operation” zone and those on combat duty.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow and other Russian cities have displayed less military equipment at Victory Day events.

The scaled-down Red Square parade comes amid continued Ukrainian long-range drone attacks, growing security concerns inside Russia, and the strain of Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

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The Kremlin has not yet released a list of foreign leaders expected to attend the May 9 parade, a contrast with the 80th-anniversary Victory Day celebrations in 2025, when Moscow heavily publicized a list of 29 foreign leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping.