Putin’s long-awaited May 9 propaganda spectacle finally went ahead after Zelenskyy authorized it with by a historical presidential decree.
No major military hardware rolled through Red Square. no major foreign leaders showed up. Even Russian state TV struggled to hide the mood hanging over the event as ordinary Russians spoke openly about losing sons, husbands, and brothers at the front. In Chita, authorities reportedly did not have enough men left for the parade and women were forced to fill the ranks.
Russian bloggers themselves called the event humiliating and blamed Putin for turning Victory Day into a global embarrassment. Online, Russians joked that if Zelenskyy can supposedly “allow” Russia to hold a parade, maybe he can also let Russians have their internet back.
The trolling drew comparisons to Ilya Repin’s famous painting of the Zaporizhian Cossacks mocking the Ottoman Sultan — a symbol of ridicule aimed at imperial arrogance.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continued striking deep inside Russia. Drones targeted Dagestan near the Caspian region as the Kremlin intensified repression at home, arresting more nationalist bloggers and reportedly sending the well-known military blogger “The 13th” into frontline meat assaults.
At the front itself, another Russian propaganda stunt ended disastrously after troops attempting a flag-planting operation were wiped out when Ukrainian forces destroyed the entire apartment building they had occupied.
The contrast could not have been clearer: choreographed spectacle in Moscow, collapse and chaos everywhere else.
