Putin, who has transformed Victory Day into a cornerstone of national identity during his 25-year rule, is expected to deliver a defiant address to the nation, drawing once again on World War I
I imagery to justify the war.
Since launching the invasion in February 2022, he has framed the campaign as a mission to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, likening it to the Soviet fight against fascism.ALSO READ: Putin signals restraint on nukes, declares 72-hour ceasefire for Victory Day
“All the peoples of the Soviet Union put in a huge input… But, of course, because of its size, the Russian Federation, of course, put in the maximum contribution to this victory,” he told schoolchildren in Moscow last week.
Despite the ongoing war, Russian officials have promised that this year’s commemorations will be the most spectacular to date.
But tensions are high.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of using the truce for optics, calling it a ceasefire “just for the parade,” and warned it cannot guarantee safety for foreign dignitaries attending. Some nations have reportedly asked Ukraine to avoid strikes during the celebrations.
Just days ahead of the event, Ukraine launched a massive drone offensive—more than 100 drones targeted multiple Russian regions, including Moscow, forcing temporary closures at major airports.
Victory Day, known in Russia as the commemoration of the “Great Patriotic War,” has been shaped over the years into a patriotic spectacle celebrating statehood and military might.
The Kremlin has largely omitted references to the 1939–41 period, when the Soviet Union had a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany and jointly invaded Poland. Instead, the focus remains on post-1941 resistance and sacrifice, with over 20 million Soviet deaths forming a central narrative of national resilience.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, the Kremlin has tightened its grip on public discourse. Criticism of the military has been outlawed, school textbooks have been rewritten to cast Ukraine as an “ultra-nationalist state,” and authorities have pursued sweeping crackdowns on dissent—marking the harshest political repression in Russia’s post-Soviet era.
Ukraine has condemned this year’s parade as an act of propaganda, claiming that those who march in Red Square are “quite likely” complicit in crimes committed during the war.
Still, leaders from about 20 countries are expected to attend the event, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Kremlin has also not ruled out a first-ever appearance by North Korean troops, who it says assisted Russian forces in the fight for Ukraine’s Kursk region. The European Union has urged member states to boycott the event, but Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has broken ranks.
“I am simply going. Full stop,” Fico said in a video message, adding, “I understand that there is a war going on. But I will not mix the present with what happened between 1941 and 1945.”
Last year’s parade was notably subdued, featuring only one tank for the second consecutive year—a symbol, analysts said, of Russia’s mounting battlefield losses. This year, despite continued fighting and security fears, Moscow is determined to showcase strength. However, some regions, including Krasnodar in the south, have cancelled local parades due to concerns over potential Ukrainian sabotage.
With inputs from AFP
