'Victory will be ours,' Putin tells Victory Day parade without any tanks

Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted "victory will be ours" during his speech to mark Victory Day on May 9, addressing a parade lacking any military equipment due to Moscow's changing fortunes in the war in Ukraine.

Putin's speech comes more than four years into the Russian all-out war on Ukraine, where his troops are struggling to make notable gains on the battlefield despite the constant mass casualties.

The decision to not show off any military hardware at the parade this year was made in large part because of the threat of Ukraine's increasingly effective long-range drones.

A greatest hits compilation of Russia's most modern military hardware was shown on a video displayed on screens at the event. North Korean troops marched on the Red Square for the first time, underscoring the deepening Moscow-Pyongyang relations. However, both North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who attended the 2025 parade in Moscow, were absent on the Red Square.

Regardless, Putin tried to put on a brave face.

"Victory has always been ours, and it always will be!" Putin said at the end of the speech, which was dominated by historical monologues and rarely touched on the war in Ukraine.

The parade lasted about 45 minutes. Russia's Digital Development Ministry announced following the parade that mobile internet and texting restrictions in Moscow imposed for "security reasons" have been lifted, Kremlin-controlled Russian Interfax news agency said, seemingly highlighting Moscow's fears of potential Ukrainian drone strikes.

Addressing Russian citizens, including soldiers and commanders in Russia's war against Ukraine, Putin commemorated the 81st anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany during the parade, which has held immense significance for the Kremlin for decades.

Some of Putin's historical monologues bore striking similarities with actions in Ukraine that his troops have committed, such as the Nazi plan to seize the country and to "completely destroy" the Soviet Union's culture.

"The Nazis treacherously attacked the Soviet Union, planning to seize the country and its vast resources, completely destroy its culture and historical heritage, and, finally, exterminate, enslave, and commit genocide against the entire multinational Soviet people — that is, all the peoples, nations, and ethnic groups of the Soviet Union," Putin said during the speech.

Kyiv thwarted the Russian plan to seize Ukraine when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia has been trying to silence Ukrainian culture and language for the past 400 years, when parts of what is now Ukraine fell under Russian influence.

Since 2022, Russian troops have committed horrific war crimes across Ukraine and have tried to exterminate Ukrainian culture, language, and national identities throughout the Moscow-occupied parts of the country.

A handful of foreign attendants of the scaled-back 2026 parade included Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Malaysia's King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, and Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith.

Kremlin-friendly Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in Moscow for bilateral talks but did not attend the parade, the Telegraph reported.

The parade followed a May 8 tongue-in-cheek official decree from President Zelensky, in which he said he would "allow a parade to be held in Moscow."

"For the duration of the parade (beginning at 10:00 a.m. Kyiv time on May 9, 2026), the area of Red Square shall be excluded from the plan for the use of Ukrainian weapons," the declaration reads. It also includes the precise coordinates of Moscow's Red Square.

U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 announced a surprise prisoner exchange and three-day ceasefire in Russia's war against Ukraine from May 9-11 amid mounting tensions between Kyiv and Moscow on the eve of Russia's Victory Day celebrations.

The evening of May 8-9 marked one of the quietest nights throughout the war, with the Air Force only reporting that Russia launched 43 drones overnight, of which 34 were downed by the Ukrainian air defense. It is unclear if the Russian drones were launched before or after midnight.