Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, May 8, 2026. SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / AP
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to uphold a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump while Russia holds its annual Victory Day parade on Saturday, May 9, though the event was set to be scaled back over security fears.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a central narrative of his 25-year rule, staging massive annual parades in Moscow on May 9, in part to rally the Russian population behind the military offensive in Ukraine.
However, a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year's celebrations, with military hardware set to be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades.
After two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, Trump announced on Friday a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect the following day. "Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly and hard fought War," Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding that the ceasefire would be accompanied by a prisoner exchange.
