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Victory Day parades and celebrations roll across Russia (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

Nationwide commemorations honor the courage and sacrifice of WWII veterans and fallen heroes

Published 8 May, 2026 05:36 | Updated 9 May, 2026 03:13

Victory Day parades and celebrations roll across Russia (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

Russia is marking the 81st anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany in World War II on May 9, paying tribute to the millions who gave their lives to defeat the Third Reich.

The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war, losing an estimated 27 million people in what is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Victory Day remains one of the country’s most important national holidays.

In Russia, Victory Day is celebrated on May 9 because Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender was signed late on May 8 in Berlin, when it was already after midnight in Moscow.

The main annual military parade is set to take place on Red Square after 10am on Friday, but various festivities and celebrations are already taking place in the Far East of the vast country, which spans 11 time zones.

May 9th: How the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender became the chief national holiday in modern Russia

Moscow announced a two-day ceasefire starting May 8 to coincide with the Victory Day commemorations, but Ukraine refused to observe it, sending hundreds of drones into Russia. US President Donald Trump later declared that Kiev had allegedly agreed to a truce on May 9-11.

Commemorations in several Western European countries, including Germany, have been overshadowed by restrictions on Soviet and Russian symbols, such as flags and St. George ribbons, introduced after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Moscow has condemned the bans as an attempt to erase the memory of the USSR’s role in defeating Nazism.

Despite the restrictions, people across Europe are continuing to lay flowers at Soviet war memorials and take part in Immortal Regiment marches, carrying portraits of relatives who fought the Nazis during the deadliest conflict in human history.

09 May 2026
04:40 GMT
In Irkutsk, one of the largest cities in eastern Siberia, tens of thousands of residents joined the Immortal Regiment march, carrying portraits of relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Local media reported that so many people took part in the procession that the march through the city’s main square lasted around 15 minutes.
04:36 GMT
The Victory Day procession in the city of Blagoveshchensk in Russia’s Far East, near the border with China, has concluded with an unexpected twist as one of the cadets used the occasion to propose to his girlfriend.
A chorus of dozens of future officers asked the lady to agree to become the wife of their fellow serviceman, and she said: “yes.”
03:59 GMT
One of the world’s northernmost and most isolated cities, Norilsk, has launched its Victory Day procession, with military vehicles already passing along the route and the Immortal Regiment column gathering to march toward Heroes’ Memory Square.
The city will hold a flower-laying ceremony at the “Norilsk – City of Labor Valor” stele. Authorities and local activists have also prepared other festivities, including a Victory Waltz dance flash mob, a “1945” patriotic run, sports events, documentary screenings, and a fireworks display.
03:50 GMT
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has congratulated the Russian people and President Vladimir Putin on the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, state-run KCNA news agency has reported.
In his message, Kim expressed confidence that Russia’s “great victorious history” will continue, the agency said.
He wished Putin good health and success in protecting his country’s dignity and national interests, it added.
Pyongyang will “give top priority to the comprehensive strategic partnership... between our two countries and invariably develop it,” the North Korean leader said as cited by KCNA.
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shaking hands during their meeting in Pyongyang. © Getty Images / Gavriil Grigorov
03:33 GMT
Siberia’s largest city, Novosibirsk, is holding a military parade on Lenin Square, followed by an Immortal Regiment march along Krasny Avenue. Mayor Maksim Kudryavtsev said the city was paying tribute to those who “walked the paths of the Great Patriotic War” and brought the long-awaited Victory.
02:42 GMT
Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russia’s Buddhist-majority Buryatia Region in eastern Siberia, has seen more than 1,500 servicemen from the local garrison take part in a Victory Day parade.
© Telegram / vestiru
The event began with a color guard carrying the Russian flag and a copy of the Victory Banner to the sound of the Sacred War. They were followed by 25 marching units, led by a combined detachment of drummers in a nod to the historical tradition of the May 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow.
02:20 GMT
Chita, the capital of Russia’s Transbaikal Region, held a Victory Day parade with around 1,700 people marching through the main square.
The ceremony opened with the Russian flag and a copy of the Victory Banner carried out to the Sacred War, followed by a formation of female drummers and the honor guard of the 29th Guards Combined Arms Army.
The march included Eastern Military District officers, pilots, air-defense personnel, women servicemembers, participants in the Ukraine conflict, border guards, police, emergency workers, cadets, Yunarmiya members, and Transbaikal Cossacks.
01:52 GMT
In Birobidzhan, the capital of Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region, descendants of Great Patriotic War veterans marched through the main square alongside local garrison units, as the Russian state flag and a copy of the red Victory Banner were carried in.
Veterans, parade units, and residents later gathered in Victory Square for a flower-laying ceremony at the obelisk, with regional officials, military representatives, and members of youth patriotic movements taking part.
01:36 GMT
Helicopters known locally as “orcas” flew over Magadan as thousands gathered for an Immortal Regiment march in the Far Eastern regional capital.
The black-and-white Mi-38 helicopters, named for their resemblance to orcas, were decorated with St. George ribbons, the Victory Banner, and portraits of Great Patriotic War hero pilots Vitaly Popkov and Vasily Borisov.
Thousands of residents and guests assembled near the TV tower and Komsomolskaya Square for the commemorative procession.
01:29 GMT
The crew of the nuclear-powered submarine cruiser Alexander Nevsky took part in the Victory Day parade in Vladivostok, where around 1,400 people marched in 18 columns. The parade in Russia’s Far Eastern port city was led mainly by Pacific Fleet personnel and reviewed by the fleet’s commander, Admiral Viktor Liina. Artillery salvos were fired from D-30 guns on Korabelnaya Embankment as the national anthem was played.
The day’s events began with a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial to merchant sailors who lost their lives transporting war materials, food, and personnel during the Great Patriotic War. After the parade, spectators watched a large-scale theatrical performance before the Immortal Regiment march began along Svetlanskaya Street.

08 May 2026
04:20 GMT
Germany’s ban on Soviet and Russian Victory Day symbols at major World War II memorials in Berlin came into force on Friday and will remain in place until 10 PM on May 9. The restrictions apply to the Soviet memorials in Tiergarten, Treptower Park and Schoenholzer Heide and prohibit the display of Russian, Soviet, Belarusian flags, military uniforms and insignia, including St. George ribbons. Russian military songs and marches are also banned, although some exemptions apply to diplomats and WWII veterans.
Russia has repeatedly condemned efforts across Europe to restrict Soviet-era symbols during WWII commemorations, accusing Western governments of trying to rewrite history and downplay the USSR’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month that some in the West appear to see the Soviet victory in WWII as an “accident” they now seek to “rectify.”
04:30 GMT
German authorities are discriminating against Russia by banning Soviet flags and St. George ribbons during Victory Day commemorations, former European Parliament member and Alternative for Germany politician Gunnar Beck has told RT.
READ MORE: German ban on Soviet WWII symbols is ‘discrimination’ – former MEP (VIDEO)

Beck argued that Berlin had not imposed similar restrictions on symbols linked to other Allied powers that defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. “There is absolutely no basis for such discrimination against Russia,” he said, stressing that the Soviet Union had suffered the highest casualties and made the “greatest single contribution” to defeating Nazism.
04:34 GMT
Russia’s embassy in Berlin condemned the restrictions on Soviet and Russian Victory Day symbols at WWII memorials as “absurd and cynical,” arguing they were aimed at preventing descendants of Soviet soldiers and visitors from properly commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of bringing “shame” on the country over the restrictions.
Despite the ban, commemorative events, including marches by the “Immortal Regiment” – a public procession in which participants carry portraits of relatives who fought against Nazi Germany in World War II – are scheduled across Germany this week. Organizers said the Berlin procession on May 9 would proceed under the imposed limitations.
05:01 GMT
The administration of US President Donald Trump had “fundamentally changed” Washington’s attitude toward Victory Day commemorations, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Aleksandr Darchiev, has said. He noting that the “Immortal Regiment” marches had been held in downtown Washington for the past two years.
Speaking at a reception at the Russian embassy in Washington marking the 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, Darchiev said representatives of the White House and the State Department attended the event. He added that during a recent phone call, the Russian and US presidents had highlighted the importance of the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States.
People taking part in an ‘Immortal Regiment’ march in Washington. © Russian Embassy in the US
05:32 GMT
Residents of the Baltic states are expected to mark Victory Day by laying flowers on empty lawns and former memorial sites due to restrictions imposed on Soviet war monuments, activist Maksim Reva told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have accelerated the removal of Soviet-era WWII monuments and memorials, arguing they symbolize Soviet occupation, while Moscow has condemned the move as an attempt to erase the Soviet role in defeating Nazi Germany.
Reva said people in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continue to visit the locations of removed WWII memorials despite official bans and police monitoring. He recalled that residents in the Estonian city of Narva last year placed flowers in the grass where a Soviet T-34 tank monument once stood, while similar commemorations took place in Riga.
06:04 GMT
Some 59% of people polled in Russia consider Victory Day the country’s most important holiday, according to a study published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM) earlier this week.
Eight decades after the conclusion of the world’s deadliest conflict, reflections on triumph in the Great Patriotic War “continue to unite generations, having become a shared collective memory. The vast majority of our fellow citizens are convinced that May 9 represents the greatest victory in Russia’s entire history,” the pollster noted.
The Motherland Calls monument is illuminated in the colors of the Russian flag during the Light of the Great Victory show on Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex ahead of Victory Day marking the 81st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Volgograd, Russia. © Sputnik / Kirill Braga
06:38 GMT
“Immortal Regiment” marches and other Victory Day commemorative events are already underway in a number of countries ahead of the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Hundreds of people carrying portraits of their heroic ancestors” have marched through “Washington D.C., New York City, Geneva, Kinshasa, Tokyo, and Kuwait City,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a weekly press briefing on Thursday.
Zakharova added that Russian diplomats abroad are “congratulating veterans, paying tribute to the feat of Soviet soldiers by laying flowers at memorials and graves of those who fell liberating Europe, taking part in Immortal Regiment marches with portraits of their ancestors,” as well as organizing “the St George Ribbon and Garden of Memory campaigns.”
She said “solemn receptions will be held at Russian missions abroad with the participation of compatriots, friends of our country, and all those who remember and honour the feat of the Soviet people.”
06:45 GMT
The Austrian authorities have refused to permit a tree-planting ceremony on May 9 commemorating the victims of the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp, the organizers of the ‘Garden of Memory’ campaign have said.
The event at the Mauthausen Memorial has been preliminary rescheduled for June 22, when Russia marks the Day of Remembrance and Mourning, they told Tass. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without a declaration of war, instigating what Russians now remember as the Great Patriotic War.
Some 30,000 Soviet POWs and civilians died during the Second World War at the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp, located 20 km east of the Austrian city of Linz.
More than 160 million trees have been planted in 101 countries as part of the ‘Garden of Memory’ campaign, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020.
FILE PHOTO: The former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen in Austria. © Sputnik / Vladimir Fedorenko
07:02 GMT
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be among the top officials attending the Victory Day parade on Red Square and other events in Moscow on May 9, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Belarusian leader’s office has said in a statement.
Lukashenko will also hold talks with Vladimir Putin, who invited him to the Russian capital, discussing bilateral relations and international issues, the statement read.
The president will return home the same day to take part in Victory Day events in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, it added.
07:22 GMT
Additional measures to protect Russian President Vladimir Putin have been implemented in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to target the Victory Day parade with drones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
When asked by journalists if the president’s security is being beefed up, Peskov replied, “undoubtedly.”
Putin is scheduled to attend the parade on Red Square on May 9 alongside the leaders of Slovakia, Malaysia, Belarus and other countries.
Russian authorities announced last month that the parade will be on a smaller scale than in 2025, when the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany was celebrated, and will not include tanks or other military hardware. Peskov subsequently attributed the decision to the Ukrainian “terrorist threat.”