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A solitary, symbolic tank has featured in Russia’s annual 9 May military parade for the second year in a row as the country was forced to pare down its normal display of military might during a full-scale war in which it has suffered unprecedented losses over the last two years. The single tank to roll across Red Square as Vladimir Putin reviewed about 9,000 troops was a second world war-era T-34 carrying the banner that the Soviet Union used when it defeated Nazi Germany alongside other allies. The tank has gained iconic status, but is not in combat use and...

The figurehead president of the Cuban communist Castro regime, Miguel Díaz-Canel, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a two-day official visit that will include a meeting with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who has been recently inaugurated for a new six-year term as president. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Díaz-Canel will “address bilateral agenda priorities” following Putin’s inauguration, meeting with other representatives of the Russian government before meeting with Putin on Thursday. Díaz-Canel will also participate in Wednesday’s meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, representing Cuba in its capacity as an observer member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)....

A rehearsal for Thursday's Victory Day military parade has been held in Moscow. -snip- Russia's defense ministry says more than 9,000 soldiers and over 70 items of weaponry and equipment will take part in Thursday's parade. However, authorities have decided that a procession of citizens holding pictures of deceased family members who fought in the war will be canceled for the second straight year. They cited security concerns. This year's Victory Day parade will be the third since Russia invaded Ukraine. Russian forces are currently stepping up their offensive in eastern Ukraine. Some people in Moscow said other countries in...

All five Central Asian presidents are scheduled to attend a parade on Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the end of World War II in Europe in 1945, while the majority of the world's leaders continue to condemn Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022. Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on May 7 said Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov will attend the event in the Russian capital’s Red Square. Ushakov added that President Miguel Diaz-Canel of...

May 9 parades across other regions in Russia have been cancelled this year over 'security concerns'. VLADIMIR Putin paraded nuclear missile launchers, tanks and thousands of war-ready troops this morning ahead of his triumphant Victory Day event. -snip- Ahead of the patriotic event, Russia's fearsome intercontinental nuclear missiles were pulled through the capital's streets in a show of force to the West. Huge columns of troops marched towards the Red Square and even children in oversized battledress joined in the military festivities. The real events will be held on Thursday under intense security, with reports suggesting that Moscow's centrepiece show...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with an ally of the Wagner Group signals his struggle to address setbacks in the Ukraine conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking decisive steps to address growing challenges as he seeks to regain control over his struggling military campaign in Ukraine. On May 2, Putin met with Alexei Dyumin, the governor of Russia's Tula Oblast, and a known associate of the Wagner Group, at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow Oblast. The meeting has raised questions about the stability of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's position, signalling Putin's increasing desperation in the face of unmet...

Russia needs to up the number and quality of its weapons heading for Ukraine to maintain Moscow's push on Ukraine's defensive lines, Russia's top defense official has said, ahead of a likely summer offensive expected to start in the coming weeks. "To maintain the required pace of the offensive and ensure the build-up of the combat strength of troop groups for further actions, it is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, according to comments published by Moscow on Wednesday.

Russia is intensifying its efforts to seize Chasiv Yar, a crucial stronghold in eastern Ukraine, as exhausted and under-equipped Ukrainian brigades struggle to hold the line while waiting for US military aid. -snip- Chasiv Yar is seen as a key prize for Moscow, with senior Ukrainian commanders claiming the Russian general staff has ordered its forces to seize it by May 9 when Russia celebrates the end of the second world war. -snip- It took the Russian military nearly a year to advance six kilometres from the ravaged city of Bakhmut to the edge of Chasiv Yar.

Vladimir Putin has had to cancel multiple Victory Day parades over ‘security risks’. -snip- Celebrated every year on May 9, the Victory Parade will take place online in some regions, Elena Tsunaeva, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs, announced. Portraits of veterans will be placed on public transport instead of the procession. Heads of multiple Russian regions and occupied Crimea, for example, announced that events will be scaled back or not happening at all, despite it being the most solemn day in the Russian calendar. Victory parades and fireworks have...

Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday Russian forces aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, setting the stage for an important battle for control of high ground in the east where Russia is focusing its assaults. The fall of the town west of the shattered city of Bakhmut by the date Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War Two would indicate growing Russian battlefield momentum as Kyiv faces a slowdown in Western military aid. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who warned this weekend that the situation in the east had deteriorated, said Russia was focusing its...

Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry has cancelled commemorative events, including a military parade, on May 9 to mark the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Political and economic factors appear to have played a role in the decision. Victory Day, as the May 9 celebration is known across the former Soviet Union, has become Russia’s primary state holiday in the years since 1991. Elsewhere in the former Soviet empire, the occasion has receded in significance. In Kazakhstan, a military parade hasn’t been on May 9 since 2019. Even so, commemorative events honoring veterans have continued to be staged across...

This is the moment a hobbling Alexander Lukashenko begged Vladimir Putin and a Russian security operative to provide him with transport and save him from walking at today's military parade. Doddering along, the Belarusian tyrant was unable to walk less than a quarter of a mile alongside Vladimir Putin at the Red Square event. The despot had been shuffling to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden, alongside the Kremlin wall, to lay a wreath with the Kremlin ruler and other ex-Soviet republic leaders. Appearing in evident discomfort, Lukashenko grimaced and pleaded with Putin to get him some...

peculation is surrounding Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's health after he reportedly made an early exit during Russia's Victory Day festivities. Lukashenko was photographed at the event with a visible bandage on his right arm. A staunch Putin ally, Lukashenko was the only one of the invited heads of state who did not join Putin in laying down flowers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 300-meter walk from where he was seated during the procession, Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva reported. Belarusian political analyst Dmitry Bolkunets wrote on Telegram that Lukashenko also did not attend a meal with Putin and...

Vladimir Putin’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow meant to showcase Russia’s military might failed to impress Tuesday, with critics poking fun at the lone World War II-era tank that was seen rolling forlornly through Red Square. The event celebrating Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 was a drastically pared-down affair compared to years past, featuring a mere 8,000 soldiers — the lowest number since 2008. Even the procession in 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, featured some 13,000 soldiers. Last May, more than a month into the invasion of Ukraine, 11,000 troops took part in...

VLADIMIR Putin rushed through a speech in Moscow's Red Square today to open a diminished parade marking Russia's victory in World War II. Far fewer troops and a solitary rusting tank dating from the war were on display amid tight security after a suspected assassination attempt on the tyrant. -snip- A solitary WWII vintage commemorative T-34 was the only tank that took part and instead of usual show of armoured might, it was followed by just 10 armoured jeeps. The usual flypast over Moscow and other cities was cancelled again, after a lack of trained pilots grounded it last year.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has arrived in Moscow for bilateral meetings with President Vladimir Putin and to attend a victory parade in the Russian capital to mark the end of World War II, likely making him the only foreign head of state to be at the May 9 events. Japarov's press service announced the official visit and arrival on the presidential website, saying the Kyrgyz leader was met at Vnukovo Airport by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin. Attendance by foreign officials at commemorations of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War has waned since Moscow's illegal annexation of the...

When Vladimir Putin takes to the stage on Tuesday to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, his speech on Red Square will have been preceded by a turbulent week in which drones attacked the Kremlin and one of his top war leaders threatened mutiny. The dramatic footage early last Wednesday of two drones flying over the walls of the Kremlin, its historical seat of power, exposed vulnerabilities in the heart of the Russian capital, putting Moscow on edge. The authorities have banned the use of drones and started jamming GPS signals, leading to taxis appearing to be in the...

At least six Russian regions have scrapped 9 May Victory Day parades that mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany amid fears over Ukrainian strikes, with a region 400 miles from the border being the latest to cancel. The governor of Saratov announced the parade there would not go ahead because of “safety concerns”, adding to a string of cancellations that are a glaring admission of the country’s military vulnerability more than 14 months into the war. Earlier, heads of Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh, Oryol, and Pskov region, as well as the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, similarly cancelled their annual military parades....

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growing. May is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army. The Russian government has warned...

Ukraine can afford to wait before launching its offensive. But Russia is in a hurry.Ticktock goes the Kremlin clock. May 9th is looming, the militaristic highlight of Russia’s official calendar. The armed forces will goosestep across Red Square, while fearsome weapons systems, some of them usable, will trundle over the cobblestones.The bombast celebrates the epoch-defining victory over Nazi Germany 78 years ago. More recent triumphs are harder to find; in the Ukraine war, Russia’s most serious military engagement since 1991, they are wholly absent. The sole bright spot lately has been the growth of Russian influence in Africa, spearheaded by...