It was all over in record short time. Russia’s annual Victory Day on Red Square ended after only 45 minutes with no displays of any of the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) military hardware and under extremely tight security.

Tensions were running extremely high following the threat of a possible Ukrainian drone attack on the event that commemorates the end of WWII, known as the Great Patriotic war in Russia, and one of the most significant events on the Russian public calendar.

Russia has inherited the Soviet claim to being decisive in bringing the fight against the Nazis to an end but lost some 25mn citizens in the process – two orders of magnitude higher than any Allied losses. Almost every family in Russia lost a relative to the war and their heroism and sacrifice is revered even in today’s Russia. Putin has capitalised on these sentiments to promote his modern-day version of patriotism that underpins his justification for the war against Ukraine.

Ukraine threat

Security at the event was overwhelming. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived with a very large security contingent, and the Federal Security Service (FSB) had moved up air defences to buildings surrounding Red Square. The FSB also shut down the internet including the SMS services, much to the annoyance of Muscovites.

The extra security and the scaled down parade were blamed on a combination of claims that the military hardware was needed in the Ukraine conflict, but more important were concerns that Ukraine might target the event with its long-range drones and attempt to assassinate Putin.

An European intelligence report leaked to the Western press last week claimed that fractions in the Kremlin were becoming increasingly unhappy and that chairman of the Security Council and close Putin friend Sergei Shoigu was planning a coup – claims that have been widely dismissed by experts as extremely unlikely.

However, those concerns were much more real by a Ukrainian drone that struck a high-rise luxury residential building in the heart of Moscow, the Dom na Mosfilmovsyaya, only a few minutes flight from Red Square.

Taking this threat seriously, the Kremlin recommended that all diplomats in Kyiv evacuate their embassies and leave central and made it clear that any attack on Red Square would trigger a massive retaliation on central Kyiv. While Russian missiles have hit targets in Kyiv, so far Russia has refrained from hitting administrative buildings or the presidential administration buildings on Bankova street in central Kyiv.

Kyivians took the threats seriously enough that roads out of Kyiv were jammed as residents chose to spend the weekend elsewhere at dachas or nearby towns in case of a missile barrage exchange between the two capitals.

Bankova trolls Putin

If Bankova had been planning a strike, the day before it backed down, but took advantage of the tensions to very effectively troll the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued an official presidential decree giving Putin “permission” to hold the parade, specifically stating that Ukraine would exclude Red Square from its strikes for the duration of the parade, and included in the text of the decree the precise GPS coordinates in the text of the decree.

DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE

No. 374/2026

On Holding a Parade in Moscow.

Taking into account numerous requests, and for humanitarian purposes outlined during negotiations with the American side on May 8, 2026, I hereby decree: To permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.

For the duration of the parade (starting at 10:00 a.m. Kyiv time on May 9, 2026), the territorial sector of Red Square shall be excluded from the operational use plan of Ukrainian weaponry. Red Square sector coordinates:

55.754413 37.617733

55.755205 37.619181

55.753351 37.622854

55.752504 37.621538This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its signing.

President of Ukraine

V. ZELENSKIYMay 8, 2026

The decree caused much hilarity in Kyiv, with posts on social media pointing out that the only totally safe place in Russia on May 9 would be Red Square. In the last month Ukraine has ramped up its long-range drone attacks on Russia's oil infrastructure that has taken an estimated 15% of Russian refineries off line, according to experts.

In April the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) fired a total of 7,000 drones into Russian territory, according to Ukraine’s General Staff, the most ever in a month and for the first time Ukraine fired more drones at Russia than Russia fired at Ukraine.

No guests

With the diplomatic back and forth between the Kremlin and Bankova, understandably few other world leaders chose to attend this year’s parade. The guest list of foreign leaders attending the military parade was extremely short. Normally leaders from the former Soviet Union states and Russia's closest allies arrive to sit beside Putin on Red Square as most of them maintain close economic relations with Russia.

This year almost no one made the trip, other than a few key allies. Ahead of the parade none of the core attendees from Central Asia confirmed their participation, other than Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov and even he was being vague. "He will be welcomed if he considers it necessary,” presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the day before.

Notably on the day itself the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived at the last minute, unannounced and unheralded. Central Asian leaders are playing a difficult diplomatic game but have so far successfully managed to sail between East and West, balancing their relations between Russia, China and the US. For example, Russia remains one of Uzbekistan’s most important economic and energy supplier partners, but Tashkent has also signed off on big investment deals with Berlin and a preferred trade partner for textiles with the EU that opened a large new market.

President Alexander Lukashenko was also in attendance, and comes every year as one of Russia's closest allies in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend this year as Beijing attempts to keep a little distance from Moscow due to the heightened tensions. US President Donald Trump is due in Beijing shortly to hold key talks on ending the war in Iran and negotiate over trade tensions between the two countries. Xi was probably calculating that preparing on Red Square before his meeting with trump would be bad optics in what will be very difficult talks with the US leader.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was the only leader from the EU, but former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch Putin ally, didn’t come after he lost the recent general election to Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar.

Like the Central Asian leaders, Fico is trying to balance his energy-dependence on Russia with his relations with the rest of the EU. He was a prominent member of the delegation and also participated in the flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier right under the looming pastel yellow walls of the Kremlin – the heart of the ceremony.

There was some confusion beforehand over whether Fico would actually appear at the main parade itself. Some reports said he might skip the parade while still travelling to Moscow for meetings and commemorative events.

Another notable no-show was Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who also has been trying to balance ties between Moscow and Brussels. Armenia is also energy dependent on Russia, which is also a major trade partner.

Armenian officials said earlier this week that he had informed Putin in advance that he would stay in Armenia because campaigning for Armenia’s June parliamentary elections begins this weekend.

His absence was widely noted because Pashinyan had attended previous Moscow Victory Day events, including in 2023 and 2025, despite Armenia’s increasingly strained relationship with Russia.

The decision comes amid a broader cooling in Moscow–Yerevan ties. Armenia has been moving closer to the EU and distancing itself from the Kremlin after repeated disputes over security guarantees, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Russia’s role in the South Caucasus. Only last week most of the EU’s top leaders travelled to Yerevan for the first Armenian-EU summit and there is talk of Armenia applying for EU membership.

No hardware

The display of Russia's military might was also noticeably absent from the parade that was over in under an hour. Instead, there was a brief March by various Russian troops and allies. Notably one contingent was of North Korean soldiers who marched across Red Square. During the war in Ukraine Russia has turned to Pyongyang for help and men who stop North Korea have since a contingent of some 10,000 soldiers that participated in the operation to retake the Kursk region that was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) last summer.

As IntelliNews has reported, the East-West clash has led the members of the CRINK alliance (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) to increase their military cooperation. North Koreans have seen active duty in Russia's war on Ukraine, and China has been actively supporting Tehran by supplying it with parts and satellite intelligence amongst other things.

The parades on Red Square would have been an opportunity to highlight this cooperation but all the participants in the CRINK alliance are keen to keep some distance from each other in order not to exacerbate tensions with the West. What cooperation there is kept to minimal gestures.