For the second year in a row, Vladimir Putin celebrated Victory Day in Russia with a tank, as the war in Ukraine continues for the third year.
The lone tank was accompanied by armored vehicles and saluting soldiers, greeted with cheers from the crowd in Moscow’s Red Square.
Traditionally, Russia commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II on May 9.
As always, Putin spoke before the start of the parade.
In his speech, intended for both Russian and foreign audiences, he accused the “arrogant” West of risking global conflict. At the same time, he pointed out that no one will be able to threaten the world’s largest nuclear power and that Russian forces are on “combat readiness”.
As Russian troops attack Western-backed Ukrainian forces, Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the Soviet Union’s crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany and fueling conflicts around the world, Reuters reported.
“We know what excessive ambitions lead to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash,” Putin said in Red Square after Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reviewed troops stationed in a blizzard.
“But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always on alert,” Putin said.
In his speech, he accused the West of wanting to forget the lessons of World War II. “But we remember that the fate of humanity was decided in spectacular battles from Murmansk to the Caucasus and the Crimea. During the first three years of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR fought the Nazis alone, Putin said. But then he added that Russia had never underestimated the importance of the second front and the help of the allies. “We pay tribute to the bravery of the coalition soldiers, the resistance fighters and the courage of the people of China. We will never forget the inspiring traditions of the Allies,” Putin said.
He admitted that Russia is going through a difficult period. We celebrate Victory Day in the context of the Special Military Operation (as Putin calls the ongoing third-year war against Ukraine), all of its participants are our heroes, Putin said.
Today we bow our heads to the memory of all those whose lives were taken by the Great Patriotic War. We bow our heads to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who have left us. We bow our heads to the memory of the civilians killed by the barbaric shelling and terrorist attacks of the neo-Nazis. In front of our comrades in arms who fell in the fight against neo-Nazism in the just battle for Russia, the President of Russia said.
As the BBC notes, the Victory Parade in Moscow in 2024 turned out to be even more modest than a year ago. In terms of the number of military equipment, he set an anti-record in the history of modern Russia.
The weather also set a kind of anti-record – on May 9, it snowed in Moscow for the first time in the last few years. The last time it was this cold was in 1999.
More than nine thousand people took part in the parade – a thousand more than a year ago, but less than the 11,000 who took part in the 2022 parade.
In this parade, for the first time, military personnel who participated in the war with Ukraine marched.
61 armored vehicles passed through Red Square, more than double the number compared to last year.
15 combat aircraft flew in the sky – this is also the smallest number of aircraft in the parades in recent years. It is true that sometimes the flight of aviation was canceled due to weather conditions, but now they did not, despite the snowfall at the beginning of the parade.
