The Victory Day Parade is taking place in Moscow, attended by units of the Russian Army, which is now fighting “the adherents of neo-Nazism and international terrorism,” according to Russian media.
A military parade took place on Red Square in Moscow on May 9 to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The procession was commanded by Army Chief General Oleg Salyukov and hosted by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Parade participants
Besides President Vladimir Putin, members of the European-Asian Economic Union (EAEU) also attended the event. Among the guests were the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau.
The parade reportedly began at 10:00 local time and lasted about two hours. Nine thousand servicemen and 75 units of equipment marched through Red Square, despite the snowy weather, demonstrating the resilience of the Russian people.
The guard of honour of all branches of the Russian Armed Forces was followed by military vehicles. The parade column was headed by a T-34-85 tank from the times of the Great Patriotic War. There were no other modern tanks, infantry fighting vehicles or paratroopers, as they are more needed on the front line. It is noted that the troops and equipment involved in the war in Ukraine are proving their combat advantages in the combat zone.
The event also featured equipment familiar from past parades: Iskander-M missile systems, S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and Yars mobile ground-based missile systems.”
The parade ended with a performance by the Russian Knights and Swifts aviation groups, which demonstrated aerobatics.
Putin attended the parade
Putin made the speech, noting the efforts of Russian troops in carrying out combat tasks in Ukraine.
All its [war] participants – those on the front line, on the line of combat contact – are our heroes. We bow our heads before the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who have left us, (…) before our fighting comrades who fell in the fight against neo-Nazism.
The President emphasised that for the first three years of the Great Patriotic War, which began after the Soviet Union entered World War II, the USSR was the leading force in the fight against Germany and its allies.
The USSR fought the Nazis one-on-one for the first three hardest years of the WWII. Whereas, almost the whole of Europe was working for the military power of the Wehrmacht. (…) We honour the bravery of all the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, resistance fighters, underground fighters, partisans, and the courage of the people of China who fought for their independence against the aggression of militaristic Japan.
Back in fight after the march
The snowy weather evoked memories of the historic parade that took place on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 1941, during the Great Patriotic War.
The parade, which occurred only a few dozen kilometres from the front line, had a great historical significance. It demonstrated the high fortitude of the Red Army fighters and commanders, inspiring thousands of young people across the USSR to sign up to volunteer at the front.
As then, this year’s parade was attended by soldiers fighting on the front lines. Battling in Ukraine, they took a leave to join the victory parade and then return to the battle. Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Khabarov led the formation.
During the parade formation of the Russian Air Force, which is actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine, soldiers chanted, “For Donbass!” Donbass is a territory that includes Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where people opposed the change of power in Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine’s attitude
In 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to parliament a bill establishing the celebration of the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the World War II on May 8. He also declared May 9 as Europe Day in Ukraine, abandoning the celebration of the traditional Victory Day.
However, Zelensky’s attempt to cancel the conventional Victory Day in Ukraine seems to have failed, as the search request “Victory Day” topped Google Trends among Ukrainian users on May 9, 2024.
Russia repeatedly mentioned during the parade that it was fighting “followers of neo-Nazism”, meaning mainly the so-called Stepan Bandera cult. He is reported to have become a national symbol for some of the Ukrainian people. As leader and organiser of the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement in western Ukraine, the radical Bandera was renowned for his brutality and wartime collaboration. When the organisation split into two factions, Bandera participated in the founding of two units that massacred the occupied territories, killing many Poles, Russians and other dissenters.
