The toll Russia’s war in Ukraine is taking on its own armed forces was apparently laid bare as a major military parade attended by President Putin was graced by just one tank, and an 80-year-old one at that.
May 9th is one of the most important days in the Russian civic calendar as the country celebrates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, but despite the fact the occasion is typically a showcase for Russian military prowess, this year the parade was conspicuously short of tanks.
While estimates vary, the toll of Russian dead including military battlefield casualties and civilians killed on the home front in World War Two is around 24 million: consequently, the anniversary of the end of the conflict remains an important day for celebration and commemoration. While in previous years the parade at the Kremlin has seen a review of Russian armour including the nation’s latest tanks, today’s parade was considerably scaled back.
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls through Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2023. Russia celebrates the 78th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MAY 09: (RUSSIA OUT) A Russian Tigr military vehicle roll during the Victory Day Red Square Parade on May 9, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. Moscow marks Victory Day with a parade after a fresh wave of strikes across Ukraine. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
There was no air flyby at all, and just one tank, a vintage model built in the 1940s actually running. At least two other T-34 tanks could be seen stationary on the periphery of Red Square during the day’s events, possibly on standby to fill in if the elderly star of the show suffered mechanical problems.
But as far as tanks went, that was it. The parade also featured dozens of lighter vehicles including Soviet-era BTR armoured fighting vehicles, Typhoon MRAPs, and infantry Jeep-type ‘Tiger’ 4x4s escorting large missile launch trucks like the S-400.
Footage of previous May 9th parades shows a real presence of modern Russian tanks such as the T-90 — Russia’s most advanced operational tank which has been destroyed and captured in Ukraine recently — older workhorses like the T72, and even experimental tank projects like the much-discussed T-14 Armata. Even the vintage tanks were driven across Red Square in greater numbers, with ten T34 — a single example of which drove today — appearing in 2021.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MAY 09: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu rides in his Aurus Senat cabriolet during the Victory Day Red Square Parade on May 9, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. Moscow marks Victory Day with a parade after a new wave of strikes across Ukraine. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
According to the Daily Telegraph, including all vehicles on parade, today’s May 9th review is a little over a quarter the size of the last pre-Ukraine war event in 2021.
While there were fewer vehicles and troops for Vladimir Putin to salute today, one areas which does not appear to have been scaled back is the massed military bands, which played marches and songs to accompany the goings on. Historic music still in use by the Russian Federation played included the Anthem of the Soviet Union, which is now — with different lyrics — the anthem of the modern Russian state, and the Slavianka Farewell, once the anthem of Russian monarchists a century ago.
Excusing the smaller size of the parade, the Russian state said it had done so because of terrorism fears, but said that over 500 veterans of what they euphemistically call the “special military operation” in Ukraine were present. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that 78 years after the end of the Second World War Russi was still fighting “Nazism in one way or another”, a not-so-subtle reference to Ukraine.
President Putin, for his part, said the West was trying to “destroy Russia” and wish to “destroy those family, traditional values that make humans human”, saying European nations are “disgusting, criminal, and deadly” for their attitude towards Russia.