Russia holds scaled-back WW2 victory parade as Ukraine war anxieties deepen
President Putin oversaw a scaled-back parade on Red Square marking the 81st anniversary of victory in World War Two. Foreign attendance was thin, with Belarus and North Korea sending their leaders, while officials warned the three-day Ukraine ceasefire could collapse without an extension.
The Red Square parade featured roughly half the armoured vehicles of last year and the planned flypast was cancelled. Putin used his speech to argue Russia's economy is holding up despite Western sanctions, declaring that 'every victory comes at a price'.
Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko and North Korea's Kim Jong Un attended as guests of honour, while China's Xi Jinping stayed in Beijing in a deliberately cautious move. The three-day Trump-brokered ceasefire was meanwhile holding along the Donbas line.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Kyiv that 'concrete steps' were needed before any extension of the truce. Pentagon sources reported Russian forces had repositioned near Kharkiv. Energy stocks opened higher across European exchanges.
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