Ukraine drones may attack Moscow May 9 parade

Mark O'Neill May 06, 2025 10:31

President Xi Jinping will be guest of honour at the giant May 9 military parade in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.

He will see soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army, North Korea and Vietnam march with those from Russia, along with tanks, missiles and other military hardware. He may meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

He may also see Ukrainian suicide drones attack the parade. On April 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened an attack. “We are choosing precisely those sore points in Russia that will most prompt Moscow to diplomacy ... Now they are worried that their parade is in question, and they are right to be worried.”

Ukrainian drones, increasingly sophisticated, have struck targets more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line, including in and around Moscow. On April 25, the Ukrainian security services assassinated a Russian general with a car bomb in a town east of Moscow.

Several cities in western Russia, close to the border with Ukraine, have cancelled their May 9 parades for fear for drone attacks.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declined Vladimir Putin's invitation to attend the Moscow event. He is expecting about 20 foreign leaders, of whom President Xi is the most important. Two will be from Europe – Serbia and Slovakia.

“We are waiting for the leader of China,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman of the Kremlin, “There will be a separate visit by President Xi, to which we attach great importance and are preparing.”

A total of 102 PLA members, from the three services, will take part. They have been in Moscow since April 25, training and rehearsing. After their arrival, the Russian Defence Ministry gave them medals in the exhibition hall of the Central Armed Forces Museum.

Major General Xu Hongsheng, leading the PLA delegation, said that the medals represented the friendly military relationship between the two countries.

Last month two Chinese captured by the Ukrainians held a news conference in Kyiv. They were the first Chinese POWs from the Russian army. Zelensky said that 155 Chinese were fighting in Putin’s army.

The two said they were volunteers and not sent by their government. Beijing insists that it has not sent soldiers to join the war.

Putin has unilaterally announced a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10, to include the day of the parade. Zelensky has dismissed this, saying that, during an earlier Easter ceasefire it announced, Russia continued to attack Ukrainian cities.

He has accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States. Putin has rejected this.

The threat of a drone attack on May 9 presents a severe threat for Putin, even if Moscow has the best air defence system in Russia.

A Western diplomat said that most likely was an attack not on Red Square that could kill the foreign dignitaries but ones elsewhere in Moscow during the parade.

“A big explosion at an ammunition dump, military base or arms factory at that time would be an enormous embarrassment for Putin,” he said.

As they enjoy the pomp and colour of the parade, the foreign visitors will not sit too comfortably.

Mark O'Neill

A Hong Kong-based writer, teacher and speaker.