UKRAINE PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine: for Kyiv and its media, the May 9, 2026 parade is above all a demonstration of what Russia can no longer display. Ukrainian Pravda and the Kyiv Post stress that the internet was cut off in central Moscow at the exact moment of the parade — an unprecedented security measure that betrays fear of a Ukrainian drone attack. The parade lasted less than an hour, without tanks or aircraft. Anti-war protesters attempted to be heard at the margins of the celebrations. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced it had neutralized a Russian agent in Odesa who was preparing an attack for May 9. Kyiv refuses to recognize the rhetorical legitimacy of Putin: for Ukraine, using the 1945 victory to justify a war of aggression is a profanation of memory.