Russia began its annual Victory Day parade on Red Square Saturday, with events set to be scaled back amid security fears and signs of fatigue over the more than four-year Ukraine war.
Both Russia and Ukraine agreed to a three-day ceasefire for the occasion, following a last-minute appeal from United States President Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a central narrative of his 25-year rule, staging massive annual parades in Moscow on May 9, in part to rally the Russian population behind the military offensive in Ukraine.
However, a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year’s celebrations, with military hardware set to be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades.
The parade kicked off shortly after 10am Moscow time (12pm PKT) with a formation of soldiers carrying the Russian flag into the square, state television showed.
Russia’s Defence Minister Andrei Belousov could be seen congratulating soldiers, including some from the North Korean army.
After two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, Trump announced on Friday that a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect the following day.
“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding the ceasefire would be accompanied by a prisoner exchange.
Zelensky issued a decree on Friday ordering the Ukrainian military not to attack the parade and in a separate statement confirmed his government would adhere to the ceasefire to enable the swap of 1,000 detainees from each warring side.
“Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home,” Zelensky said, referring to the historic site in the Russian capital where the annual event is held.
Smaller-scale celebration
Moscow also confirmed it had accepted the truce, which Trump said he hoped could be extended.
“It could be. I’d like to see it stopped,” the US president told reporters.
Now in its fifth year, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and US-mediated talks on ending Europe’s largest conflict since World War II have shown little progress since February, when Washington shifted focus to its war against Iran.
Before Trump’s announcement, Ukraine had dismissed a temporary truce by Russia and hours before Moscow’s ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow’s allies against attending the parade.
Russia had threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the victory commemoration and urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, Moscow would reduce the scale of the parade with no military equipment on display in the Red Square and the number of foreign dignitaries in attendance decreased.
Only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia and Laos, as well as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, have travelled to Moscow, according to the Kremlin, in contrast to high-profile visitors including China’s Xi Jinping during last year’s event.
Authorities had also been intermittently switching off mobile internet in the Russian capital in recent days as a security measure.
Ongoing strikes
The Ukrainian military, which has bolstered its drone capabilities, has intensified its strikes in recent weeks, hitting targets hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine.
Both sides continued to trade attacks on Friday, before Trump’s announcement.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 67 drones overnight — the lowest number in almost a month.
“Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations,” Zelensky had said, adding that Ukraine was reacting in kind.
Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones — 100 of them targeting Moscow — since midnight, and that its troops were “responding symmetrically”.
Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia’s Yaroslavl and Perm regions.
Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed on Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow’s transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.
Despite the fighting, Zelensky expressed hope on Friday that US envoys would visit Ukraine in the coming weeks to reboot talks on ending the war after Ukraine’s lead negotiator met with US representatives in Florida this week.
President Zardari felicitates Russian leadership
Separately, President Asif Ali Zardari extended felicitations to Putin and the Russian people on Victory Day.
In a message, conveyed on behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan, President Zardari noted that victory in the “Great Patriotic War remains a solemn and enduring reminder of the immense sacrifices made by the Russian people in the defence of their homeland and in the global struggle against fascism”.
“He remarked that this historic triumph stands as a symbol of the resilience, courage and determination of the Russian nation as well as its enduring contribution to international peace, security and stability,” read a statement by the Presidency.
President Zardari stated Pakistan greatly valued its relations with Russia and “attaches importance to a shared commitment to a just, peaceful and rules-based international order”.
He also paid tribute to the memory of all those who laid down their lives in the “fight against Nazism, including the soldiers from the region of the Indus Valley who served as part of the Allied forces”.
“The president expressed hope that the spirit of that historic victory would continue to inspire greater cooperation, mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries,” the statement added.
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