Victory Parade in Moscow may not happen for the first time in 30 years — fearing Ukraine
The decision to cancel or postpone might be made due to new Ukrainian missiles capable of reaching Moscow in 10-30 minutes.
Victory Parade in 2025. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Russian authorities have canceled the aerial part of the Victory Parade in Moscow and St. Petersburg and are considering postponing or canceling the ground part. Z-blogger Ilya Tumanov reported this on Solovyov LIVE on Sunday, writes the Telegram channel "Mozhem Obyasnit" (We Can Explain).
The day before, when asked about the parade's cancellation, Dmitry Peskov replied evasively: "We are preparing for the celebration of Victory Day." There have been no other official statements. In some cities, preparations for parades have already begun, but there are no such reports from Moscow and St. Petersburg.
On Sunday, a training session for the parade "boxes" (formations) was supposed to take place at the training ground, but it was canceled, and servicemen were told they were departing to their permanent deployment points "until further notice," Tumanov said.
He suggested that the parade might be postponed to another date, as it was in 2020 due to COVID. Previously, Tumanov himself and other Z-bloggers had also written about the parade's cancellation.
The reason for the cancellation is long-range Ukrainian missiles, Tumanov admitted, without specifying which missiles exactly scared Moscow. Cruise missiles can reach Moscow in half an hour, and ballistic missiles in 10 minutes.
"Can you imagine, 'parade, attention, stand to' — and a missile threat is announced. What would happen on the square and around it? This would be a significant media blow, even if nothing reaches," Tumanov reflects.
In recent months, Ukraine has reported the emergence or development of long-range missiles.
The "Flamingo" cruise missile was unveiled last August. Its declared range is 3000 km (Moscow is only 450 km from the Ukrainian border), and the warhead weighs one ton.
It has been used at least twice: in February, "Flamingo" struck the Votkinsk plant in Udmurtia, and in March — an enterprise in the Samara region.
The FP-9 ballistic missile is under development: according to the chief designer, its tests should begin in the summer. Its declared range is 850 km (this distance is enough to reach Moscow), with an 800 kg warhead. Due to their high speed and flight altitude, ballistic missiles are very difficult to intercept.
Since the beginning of the war, parades in Moscow have significantly decreased in scale.
In 2022, there was less equipment (compared to 2021), and the aerial part was canceled. In 2023, the number of servicemen decreased by another quarter, tanks disappeared (except for three WWII-era T-34s), and there was no aviation again. In 2024, planes reappeared, but only 15 units.
The jubilee parade in 2025 was more extensive but still inferior to the pre-war one (2021) in terms of personnel and equipment. There were again 15 aircraft.
Military parades in Moscow were not held between 1991 and 1994; they were resumed in the jubilee year 1995.
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