Putin Puts on Larger Display of Military Troops, Tanks in Red Square Victory Day Parade

Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day parade in Moscow was noticeably larger in scale than in recent years, suggesting Russia is regenerating military strength as the Ukraine War burns on.

The whole of Russia stands behind Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin claimed in his speech at Red Square, Moscow, on Friday morning as Russian and Kremlin-friendly militaries paraded to commemorate the end of the Second World War.

Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany one day later than most allied nations. The first surrender document was signed on May 7th 1945 at General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, coming into force late the following day. Due to the time difference, the German surrender became effective in the early hours of the morning of the 9th by Moscow time.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2025. Russia celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two (WWII). (Photo by Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV / POOL / AFP) (Photo by VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia’s role has become the unifying national story for the government to manage and maintain unity and regime loyalty, and particularly under the leadership of President Putin who has boosted the profile of May 9th. Illusions to the Russian victory against Nazi Germany are frequently invoked in the Kremlin’s justifications for the Ukraine War.

Indeed, Putin wove the defeat of Nazism in the Second World War and the Ukraine War together again in his address to the Red Square parade on Friday morning. He namechecked several Soviet military victories in Ukrainian cities and regions during the Second World War which he said, along with others, “determined the outcome of the entire World War II with their unequivocal victories”.

On the Ukraine war in particular, that he euphemistically calls the “special military operation”, Putin said: “Truth and justice are on our side. The entire nation, society, and the people stand behind the participants of the special military operation. We take pride in their courage and unwavering resolve. That strength of spirit, which has always led us to victory, remains unshakable”.

The address was followed by the parade proper, which was conspicuous by being larger and better equipped than previous years. In 2023, the once-great parade was reduced to a rump a quarter of the size of pre-Ukraine War parades with no flyby and only one tank on show, and even that was a 1940s vintage veteran of the Second World War.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MAY 9: Military parade is held as part of the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 9, 2025. Russia marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Things appeared to revive in 2024 with 9,000 troops paraded including a unit of 1,000 combat veterans form Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and 75 of what Russia calls “combat systems”: tanks, missile launchers, artillery, and the like.

Per Russian state media — and live stream footage of the parade from Moscow appears to confirm the claim — the 2025 parade was larger again still with 11,000 troops turned out and 183 of those “weapon systems” driven through Red Square.

Assuming the 2023 parade was considerably reduced by Russia’s military commitment to the invasion of Ukraine and its armed forces being ground down by Kyiv, it may imply today’s revived parade demonstrates a Russian military regenerating itself at a greater rate than Ukraine is able to destroy it. For the first time, the parade included a display of unmanned aerial systems, drones.

After the parading of what Russia calls the “legendary Victory Banner”, the flag it says was raised above the Reichstag building in Berlin in 1945 the day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, Russian Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief General Oleg Salyukov and Minister of Defence Andrey Belousov reviewed the parade from open-top limousines. The large cabriolets, which may be unfamiliar to Western observers, are the Aurus Senat, the Russian attempt to manufacture a Rolls Royce-equivalent luxury car.

Russian military trucks transporting Geran-2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) drive across Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2025. Russia celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two (WWII). (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

Several nations paraded troops including ethnic units from within the Russian Federation — like the Cossacks — but also Russia-allied guests. Per Russian state media, they included Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Beyond vintage pieces including Second World War-era tanks and artillery, modern military equipment on display on Friday included armoured personel carriers, T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks, rocket and missile systems, and drone systems including the types used to hammer Ukrainian cities nightly.

President Putin had unilaterally declared a truce with Ukraine for the duration of May 9th celebrations in Russia and the days bookending it, which Kyiv dismissed as a “farce” and only intended to keep the airspace above Moscow clear for the purpose of visiting dignitaries. Ukraine has, in any case, accused Russia of breaking its own ceasefire, claiming hundreds of Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions while the alleged truce was said by President Putin to be in force.

Russia returned these claims in kind, alleging it was Ukraine breaking the ceasefire and that Moscow troops were only retaliating on a like-for-like basis. Such arguments also characterised the last Russian-declared truce for Easter, which appeared to have also been ignored by both sides.