Russian soldiers march towards Red Square to participate in a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade on May 7, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. The parade will take place on May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate 78 years of victory in WWII. , Photo Credit: AP
Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, commemorates two principles that are central to the country’s identity: military might and moral rectitude. But war in ukraine This year weakens both.
The holiday, which falls on May 9, marks the 78th anniversary of Germany’s surrender in World War II, when a relentless Red Army offensive pushed German forces from Stalingrad, some 2,200 km deep inside Russia, to Berlin.
The Soviet Union lost at least 20 million people in the war; The suffering and heroism that went into the German defeat has been the touchstone ever since.
However, many regions have canceled their May 9 rituals because of concerns the events could be targets for Ukrainian attacks. This will be followed by Moscow’s famous Red Square military parade. Russia claims Ukraine attempted drone attack on KremlinWhose minarets are next to the parade site.
For all the fearsome weapons that will roar through the square, Russia’s failure to make gains in Ukraine tarnishes its military’s image of indomitability.
Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles move towards Red Square to take part in a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 7, 2023. Photo Credit: AP
After capturing large parts of the neighboring country in the early weeks of the invasion, the Russian campaign saw an abandoned attempt to enter Kiev, a retreat into northern and southern Ukraine, and a inability to take BakhmutA small town of dubious value despite months of exceptionally gruesome fighting.
President Vladimir Putin, in his speech during the parade, is sure to praise the Red Army’s determination to wipe out Nazism and reiterate his claim that Russia is taking the moral high ground by fighting the alleged Nazi regime in Ukraine. A Jewish state president.
But the rain of missiles at Ukrainian civilian targets has drawn worldwide condemnation from Russia, while Western countries sharing a common cause with Moscow to defeat Nazi Germany have sent billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine.
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Analysts are divided on whether the May 3 drone incident at the Kremlin was a real attack or a “false flag” fabricated to amplify the ferocity of Russia’s missile barrage in Ukraine. Either explanation risks undermining a sense of security among Russians, who are already troubled by attacks in Ukraine or by domestic adversaries, which have escalated sharply in recent weeks.
This week two freight trains were derailed in bombings in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine. Notably, officials in the region did not blame Ukraine, which may be an attempt to whitewash the Ukrainian ability to commit sabotage.
But Bryansk officials claimed in March that two people were shot dead when alleged Ukrainian saboteurs entered the area. The area has also been hit by sporadic cross-border shelling, including last month, when four people were killed.
Three prominent supporters of the war in Ukraine were also killed or wounded on their home turf elsewhere in Russia. A car bomb exploded last week in the Nizhny Novgorod region Officials accused Ukraine and the United States The seriously wounded nationalist novelist Zakhar Prilepin and his driver were killed.
Last year, Daria Dugina, a commentator for a nationalist TV channel, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow, and officials alleged that Ukrainian intelligence was behind it. Prominent pro-war blogger died in St. Petersburg in April Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed when a bomb went off inside a statue handed to him at a restaurant party.
Military cadets demonstrate their skills during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade, which will take place on 9 May in Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square. Photo Credit: AP
Amid heightened security concerns, authorities also canceled one of the most notable rituals of Victory Day, the “Immortal Regiment” processions in which citizens take to the streets carrying portraits of relatives who died or served in World War II. Are.
The processions carry an air of genuine emotion, in contrast to the obedient stone-faced soldiers who march across Red Square during stiff regimented military parades that change little from year to year.
Although the processions are ongoing and impressively large, officials “thought the risks were becoming prohibitive,” said Dmitry Oreshkin, a Russian analyst who is now at the Free University in Riga, Latvia. “If some kind of drones fly there, penetrate through an impenetrable border … why can’t they drop something on this column?”