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A man in a military uniform checks his mobile phone on a street in Moscow, Russia, on May 6, 2026.
Russia

Why Moscow is afraid this Victory Day

by Karol Luczka

On May 9, Moscow will stage its annual Victory Day parade marking the end of World War II in Europe — but this year, the spectacle is notable not for its grandeur, but for what's missing. For the first time in Vladimir Putin's Russia, no missiles, tanks, or armored vehicles are expected to appear in Saturday's Red Square parade. Although the Kremlin offered no explanation for the dramatic scale-back, recent Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory have suggested that even Putin's militar

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Russia will likely strike Ukraine’s energy grid again. Kyiv still isn’t preparing

As the springtime sun coaxes Kyiv’s residents outdoors, memories of a winter without reliable heat or electricity caused by Russian strikes are beginning to fade — creating a dangerous distraction from the government's failure to prepare for the upcoming season. Kyiv expects Moscow to launch another brutal campaign against its energy infrastructure this winter. But efforts to diversify Kyiv’s power generation and heating sources either started too late or not at all, several people in the energ

About Russia

The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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