Within Russia, anti-war slogans appeared on Russian satellite television[3] as well as on Lenta.ru, a pro-government news website, on Victory Day.[4][5]
According to the Russian state-owned TASS news agency, a number of foreign envoys from the Middle East and Africa attended the ceremony. Rodion Miroshnik, the ambassador to Russia from the Luhansk People's Republic (a pro-Russian breakaway region of Ukraine's Donbas region), addressed the crowd in Red Square.[6]
Speculations
There were some speculations that Vladimir Putin would use the occasion to make a formal declaration of war on Ukraine. However this did not occur throughout the day.[7][8]
Russian president Vladimir Putin speaking at the parade
The Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the parade. The speech did not give any specifics regarding the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also did not refer to Ukraine by name in his speech. Putin condemned the Ukrainian government, the West and NATO, blaming their alleged aggressive actions for Russia's invasion and saying that NATO and the West was using Ukraine as a proxy to attack Russia. He also drew parallels between the current Ukrainian government and that of Nazi Germany,[9][10][11][12] praising Russia's military, saying that present troops were "fighting for the motherland, for her future, and so that nobody forgets the lessons of World War II".[13]
Full order of the 2022 parade
Bold indicates first appearance, italic indicates multiple appearances, Bold and italic indicate returning appearance, all indicated unless otherwise noted.
The air fly-past column was ostensibly cut from the 2022 Victory Day Parade due to weather, despite the ground portion of the parade taking place with good visibility and somewhat cloudy skies. [14]
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