The parade: the celebrations in Moscow showed the connection between the heroes of Victory and the participants of their

The Victory Day Parade, dedicated to the 81st anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, was successfully held in Moscow. In his speech, Vladimir Putin said that Russia will always remember the heroes who gave their lives for the victory over Nazism. According to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the great feat of the victorious generation inspires the soldiers participating in their military today. Foreign leaders arrived in Moscow for the holiday, but Kiev did not dare to attempt to disrupt the celebrations. Experts believe that Vladimir Zelensky was afraid of the possible reaction of US President Donald Trump, who proposed a three-day truce from May 9 to 11. About how Victory Day was remembered — in the Izvestia report.

Victory Day Parade in Moscow

Probably, every Russian resident dreams of visiting the main parade of the country at least once on May 9th. To see the power of our soldiers, to talk with veterans of the Great Patriotic War, many of whom are more than 100 years old, is more a privilege than an ordinary thing. At the same time, Victory Day has finally become a holiday that unites generations. Perhaps at least half of the parade's audience were participants in a special military operation.

— Both of my grandfathers fought in the Great Patriotic War, and we should never forget about their feat. One of them was seriously wounded in the Kharkov direction, and I was seriously wounded in the Zaporozhye direction. So I could say that I went through his path," Oleg, a member of the SVO, told Izvestia.

The Victory Day Parade once again emphasized the direct continuity between modernity and the events of 80 years ago. It started at 10 a.m., and a little earlier the orchestra performed songs from the war years. The national flags of Russia and the Soviet Union were placed on the paving stones of Red Square under the composition "Holy War".

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated that May 9 is the main holiday for Russians, watched the parade next to the veteran of the Great Patriotic War Admiral Sveta Turunov and the participant of the SVO Leonid Ryzhov, under whose leadership more than two dozen settlements of the LPR were liberated.

"The great feat of the victorious generation inspires the soldiers who are carrying out the tasks of a special military operation today," the Russian leader said in his solemn speech.

He noted that ITS fighters are resisting an aggressive force that is supported and armed by the entire NATO bloc. "Despite this, our heroes are moving forward," the Supreme Commander—in-Chief emphasized.

Putin noted that the country will always remember the feat of the fighters who gave their lives for the victory over Nazism. He declared a minute of silence, after which the salute division of the Moscow Military District fired 11 artillery volleys from 18 cannons of the Great Patriotic War to the Russian national anthem. The roar of the guns literally shook the paving stones.

— The parade has a great symbolic significance, it is a symbol of the connection of epochs, living memory and continuity, and no external threats can shake this connection. On the contrary, we see the continued cohesion of society, the connection of generations and countries. The whole of Russia watched the festive parade on TV — isn't this a sign of genuine unity," Oleg Lyakhovenko, a senior researcher at the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University, told Izvestia.

More than a thousand military personnel marched through the Red Square. For the first time in history, calculations of the DPRK military personnel also took part in the parade. Russia will forever remember the feat and help of the soldiers of this Asian country, who made an invaluable contribution to the liberation of the settlements of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

A special feature of this year's parade was the lack of a demonstration of military equipment due to the operational situation. This also affected the duration of the event — the parade took place in just 45 minutes. But the spectators of the parade nevertheless saw Russian weapons, and in action: on a large screen located near the GUM building, the combat work of the Geran and Pacer unmanned crews was shown. The broadcast also demonstrated how military personnel perform tasks in the area of their military.

The Russian Knights and Strizhi aerobatic teams successfully completed the parade, flying over the main square of the capital and painting the sky in the colors of the Russian tricolor.

Who came to the parade

The celebration of May 9 has once again become an international event, despite the threat of the use of drones from Ukraine. For security reasons, the Russian authorities have warned about temporary outages of the mobile Internet. It is curious that, despite everything, there was still a connection during the parade.

On the evening of May 8, Vladimir Zelensky agreed to a truce during May 9-11, but a few days ago he allowed the AFU drones to appear in the sky over the Russian capital. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a truce from May 8 to 00:00 on May 10, threatening strikes on the center of Kiev in case of disruption of the Victory Day Parade. Later, Russia agreed to support the initiative of US President Donald Trump to extend the ceasefire until May 11. Also, the Russian Federation agreed to conduct a prisoner exchange with Ukraine according to the "1000 to 1000" formula.

— The Kiev leadership was warned in advance that any attempts to commit provocations, terrorist acts or any other unfriendly actions would receive the harshest possible response in the form of strikes against decision-making centers in Kiev itself. The position of the American leadership could also play a role," Oleg Lyakhovenko noted.

The day before, US President Donald Trump spoke positively about the importance of a truce in connection with the celebration of May 9. A clear contradiction with the American line could provoke the American president to take drastic and impulsive actions against Ukraine, Lyakhovenko believes.

However, having abandoned attempts to strike at Moscow, the Kiev regime did not even think about fulfilling other conditions of the truce. On the afternoon of May 9, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that 8,970 violations of the ceasefire regime by the Armed Forces of Ukraine had been recorded in the special military operation zone. This includes 1,173 attacks on Russian military positions from artillery, multiple rocket launchers, mortars and tanks, as well as 7,151 strikes using UAVs.

The Kremlin stressed that it had not sent official invitations to the Victory Day Parade this year. The Victory Day celebrations were attended by the Presidents of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan Shavkat Merziyoyev, Abkhazia Badra Gunba, South Ossetia Alan Gagloev, Laos Thonglong Sisulit, the supreme ruler of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim. After that, the leaders laid flowers at the grave of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden. Later, they went to a reception in the Faceted Chamber for a reception on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the victory.

— It is well known that the peoples of the Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazism. At the same time, we have never divided this great Victory into our own and someone else's, and therefore we honor the contribution of all the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, resistance members, partisans, and underground fighters. We will always keep the memory of our military alliance and brotherhood in arms," Vladimir Putin said.

It is interesting that the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, refused to participate in the parade. Nevertheless, the Slovak leader laid flowers at the grave of the Unknown Soldier on May 8, immediately after his arrival in Moscow.