Moscow’s May 9 Victory Day parade marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II will be held without military equipment, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Telegram late on April 28. Students from the Suvorov military schools, the Nakhimov Naval School and cadet corps also will not be taking part in the parade, according to the MoD.
“Students of [the] Suvorov military and Nakhimov schools, cadet corps, as well as the military equipment column, will not participate in this year’s military parade because of the current operational situation,” the ministry said.
Aircraft will fly over Red Square, the ministry said. The marching column will include service members from universities representing all branches and separate arms of the Russian Armed Forces.
Russia has held the Victory Day parade annually since 1995. Heavy military equipment was first used in the parade in 2008. This year will be the first in 18 years that the parade is held without it.
The Victory Day parade was earlier canceled in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, over 270 miles east of Moscow, “because of security requirements,” while local authorities in the Voronezh Region — which shares a border with the Luhansk Region of Ukraine — canceled the firework display which usually mark the end of Victory Day. The Immortal Regiment, a march where participants carry portraits of relatives who fought or died in World War II, will be held online.
In recent months, Ukraine has regularly used drones to attack Russian industrial and energy infrastructure.
