Russians Celebrate Victory From The Last War Faught In The Ukraine
On May 9, 2025, Russia held its annual Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square, marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II—a conflict that claimed 27 million Soviet lives, including millions in Ukraine. The parade, the largest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, featured over 11,500 troops, 180 military vehicles, and a display of modern weaponry like drones, Iskander ballistic missiles, and Yars nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles. President Vladimir Putin, joined by leaders from China, Brazil, and over 20 other nations, used the event to emphasize Russia’s historical resilience, drawing a direct parallel between the Soviet victory and the ongoing war in Ukraine. He praised the “courage and determination” of Russian troops currently fighting, framing their efforts as a continuation of the same struggle against what he calls Western-backed “neo-Nazism” in Ukraine, a narrative that conveniently glosses over the complexities of the current conflict.
The parade also served as a somber reminder of the immense sacrifices made by the Soviet people, particularly in Ukraine, where some of the most brutal battles of World War II unfolded. Cities like Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Kursk, and regions in Ukraine bore the brunt of the Eastern Front, with millions of Ukrainian and Russian civilians and soldiers perishing as the Red Army pushed back Nazi forces. The Soviet Victory Banner, raised over the Reichstag in 1945, was carried through Red Square as a symbol of that hard-won victory. Yet, the inclusion of active-duty soldiers who had fought in Ukraine—where the Soviet legacy is now bitterly contested—highlighted a stark irony. Ukraine, once a key part of the Soviet Union, is now the battleground for Russia’s modern war, with its own leaders rejecting Putin’s historical framing and instead marking May 9 as a day of European unity, reflecting a deep divergence in how the shared past is remembered.
Critics argue that Putin’s invocation of World War II sacrifices, especially in the context of Ukraine, is a manipulative tactic to justify an aggressive war that has little to do with the fight against Nazism. The Soviet Union’s victory was a collective effort, with Ukrainians playing a significant role, yet Putin’s narrative erases their agency, portraying modern Ukraine as a puppet of Western “elites” rather than a nation defending its sovereignty. The presence of foreign leaders like Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Lula da Silva at the parade underscored Putin’s attempt to show that Russia is not isolated, but the absence of Western leaders and the simultaneous European summit in Lviv to establish a war crimes tribunal against Russian officials revealed the deep global divide. For many Russians, the parade remains a source of pride in their ancestors’ sacrifices, but its militaristic tone and the shadow of the Ukraine war raise questions about whether the memory of victory is being weaponized to obscure present-day aggression.
