No Victory for You, Mr. Trump: Putin Didn’t Invite Trump to Moscow Military Parade
Russia’s Vladimir Putin did not invite U.S. President Donald Trump to attend the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow next week, the Kremlin said Thursday, a day after the two leaders spoke by phone for the first time in months.
The official guest list for the May 9 military procession on Red Square has still not been made public, though individual leaders, including Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, have already confirmed they plan to attend celebrations in Russia.
Leaders from former Soviet states, including Belarus and Central Asian republics, traditionally join Putin on the viewing stand as the Moscow parade’s guests of honor.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said this year’s parade in Moscow will not feature military vehicles for the first time in nearly two decades. The Kremlin explained the decision was made based on security concerns amid an uptick in Ukrainian drone attacks.
Putin and Trump held a phone call on Wednesday, during which the two leaders discussed the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Putin also proposed the idea of a ceasefire with Ukraine on May 9, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that he instructed members of his team to find out more details about that proposal, but he stressed that Ukraine’s main objective is to secure a long-term ceasefire and, ultimately, an end to the war.
“We will clarify what exactly this is about — a few hours of security for a parade in Moscow, or something more,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
Last year, Putin unilaterally declared a 72-hour ceasefire with Ukraine from May 8 to May 11 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II. Ukraine rejected that truce as a hollow gesture.
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