Tensions are high as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday. Fears about security amid the war with Ukraine and signs of domestic discontent are casting a shadow over annual celebrations in Moscow’s Red Square.

Kremlin officials said a large strike on Kyiv would be “inevitable” if Ukraine disrupted the May 9 event, a prospect President Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared to allude to.

To borrow a great line from the movie Under Siege 2, “Assumption is the mother of all f*** ups.” Russian President Vladimir Putin assumed that launching the war on Ukraine in February 2022 would lead to a rapid and decisive Russian victory.

The Russian president’s “Victory Day” cult has backfired as the conflict drags on longer than the Soviets’ battle against the Nazis.

Russia's annual Victory Day parade will be smaller than previous ones as the effects of the war on Ukraine take a toll.

General Viktor Afzalov, who headed the branch responsible for Russia's air defences, is being replaced by Colonel General Alexander Chaiko.