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A man in a military uniform checks his mobile phone on a street in Moscow, Russia, on May 6, 2026.
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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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Sunday, May 10

Ukraine war latest: Putin says he believes war in Ukraine almost over

Key developments on May 9-10: * Putin says he believes war in Ukraine almost over * 'Victory will be ours,' Putin tells Victory Day parade without any tanks * Russia breaks 3-day ceasefire as strikes kill 1, injure 19 across Ukraine * Kremlin says it expects US envoys Witkoff, Kushner, 'quite soon' Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 9 that he believes the full-scale war in Ukraine will be over soon. "I think the (war in Ukraine) is coming to an end," he told journalists at a Kre

Analysis: Is Ukraine really turning the tide of this war?

Since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the information space around the war has been obsessed with this deceptively simple question, and the constant new iterations of answers to it. In the hands of those fighting the narrative war, from officials on both sides, online cheerleaders, armchair generals, and a certain world leader who likes to talk about who has the cards, the answers differ radically, but all are delivered with consistent venom, emotion, and intellectual ass

Ukrainian recruits at a training center in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on March 27, 2026.

Is Russia still a superpower? | Ukraine This Week

For the first time in nearly two decades, Russia’s Victory Day parade on Red Square was held without heavy military equipment, officially due to security concerns linked to Ukrainian drone attacks. In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, Kateryna Hodunova examines whether Russia can still be considered a military superpower, and what recent developments reveal about its true capabilities.

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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