The Japan Times - Moscow to hold scaled-back Victory Day parade as Ukraine truce kicks in

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a central narrative of his 25-year rule, staging massive annual parades in Moscow on May 9, in part to rally the Russian population behind the military offensive in Ukraine.

However, a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year's celebrations, with military hardware set to be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades.

After two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, Trump announced on Friday a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect the following day.

"Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War," Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding the ceasefire would be accompanied by a prisoner exchange.

Zelensky issued a decree on Friday ordering the Ukrainian military not to attack the parade and in a separate statement confirmed his government would adhere to the ceasefire to enable the swap of 1,000 detainees from each warring side.

"Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home," Zelensky said, referring to the historic site in the Russian capital where the annual event is held.

- Smaller-scale celebration -

Moscow also confirmed it had accepted the truce, which Trump said he hoped could be extended.

"It could be. I'd like to see it stopped," the US president told reporters.

Now in its fifth year, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and US-mediated talks on ending Europe's largest conflict since World War II have shown little progress since February, when Washington shifted focus to its war against Iran.

Before Trump's announcement, Ukraine had dismissed a temporary truce by Russia and hours before Moscow's ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow's allies against attending the parade.

Russia had threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the victory commemoration and urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Moscow would reduce the scale of the parade with no military equipment on display in the Red Square and the number of foreign dignitaries in attendance decreased.

Only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia and Laos, as well as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, have travelled to Moscow, according to the Kremlin, in contrast to high-profile visitors including China's Xi Jinping during last year's event.

Authorities had also been intermittently switching off mobile internet in the Russian capital in recent days as a security measure.

- Ongoing strikes -

The Ukrainian military, which has bolstered its drone capabilities, has intensified its strikes in recent weeks, hitting target hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine.

Both sides continued to trade attacks on Friday, before Trump's announcement.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 67 drones overnight -- the lowest number in almost a month.

"Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations," Zelensky had said, adding that Ukraine was reacting in kind.

Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones -- 100 of them targeting Moscow -- since midnight, and that its troops were "responding symmetrically".

Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia's Yaroslavl and Perm regions.

Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow's transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.

Despite the fighting, Zelensky expressed hope on Friday that US envoys would visit Ukraine in the coming weeks to reboot talks on ending the war after Ukraine's lead negotiator met with US representatives in Florida this week.

T.Sato--JT