For anyone who remembers the enormous military parades in Russia prior to the Ukraine war with tanks and missiles and other expensive hardware, the parades this year certainly look different.
@randahl I hate the way they're trucking out their veterans like that.

@randahl

Ah hah hah hah hah. And Zelenskyy has said he will mercifully not rain on this parade ( https://www.kyivpost.com/post/75412 )

Zelensky Counters Moscow’s Victory Day Truce With Earlier May 6 Ceasefire

“Life over parades,” Kyiv said, urging Moscow to show whether it wants peace or military spectacle.

Kyiv Post

@randahl

It was very nice of President Zelensky to grant permission to Russia for their annual parade.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/09/ukraine-war-briefing-zelenskyy-hereby-decrees-moscow-can-hold-victory-day-parade

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy ‘hereby decrees’ Moscow can hold Victory Day parade

Ukraine president says ‘Red Square shall be excluded’ from any attacks, while Kyiv, Moscow and Trump proclaim three-day ceasefire. What we know on day 1,536

The Guardian

@randahl

That was almost as big as Trump's parade!

@randahl CGI Kremlin? Or the CGI MIGs (or whatever) who then turned into frogfoots?
@randahl i find no joy in seeing wounded veterans who probably had no choice but to go to war for Putin paraded before the world. The enormous parades with tanks and missiles were one kind of shame on Russia, this is another.

@DanielTaylor I think you are right, some Russian soldiers have been forced into a war they never wanted to be a part of. But is this the majority? Quite many Russian soldiers are actual volunteers or career soldiers.

Moreover, I have seen plenty of cases with Russians who left Russia or surrendered to Ukraine or found other ways to avoid fighting Putin’s war.

@randahl For the first time the parade shows a little of the very large human cost - the death, the suffering of war.
The dead will not suffer - but survivors, families will - they have to live with the pain. It was put on display.
I think this looked like improvement.
@randahl Everybody knows #Trump had the biggest and best military parade the world has ever seen. Putin is just copying the Trump parade.
It is that simple.
#irony #RemoveTrumpAdministration #JudgementDayWillCome