French President Emmanuel Macron reviews the troops during ceremonies marking Victory Day, Monday, May 8, 2023 in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron presides over ceremonies in Paris and Lyon celebrating victory over the Nazis and commemorating victims of the Holocaust and French resistance fighters in World War II.Michel Euler/AP
Baku/08.05.23/Turan: Russia's most important secular holiday, Victory Day, which celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany, is being undermined this year by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Soviet Union lost at least 20 million people in World War II, and the valor that went into the German defeat has been a touchstone ever since. However, fears of Ukrainian attacks have led to many regions canceling their May 9 observances, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg, security measures have been ramped up amid a drone ban, a temporary ban on car-sharing services, and jet ski restrictions in some parts of St. Petersburg's waterways.
Russia's failure to make gains in Ukraine has also spoiled the image of its army's indomitability. Russia's use of missiles against Ukrainian civilian targets has drawn worldwide condemnation, while Western countries that made common cause with Moscow to defeat Nazi Germany are sending billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Ukraine.
Amid heightened security concerns, authorities have also canceled one of Victory Day's most notable observances, the "Immortal Regiment" processions, in which citizens take to the streets holding portraits of relatives who died or served in World War II.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a draft law to the Ukrainian parliament suggesting May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War.
Most European countries celebrate Victory in Europe Day on May 8, while Russia and some former Soviet countries mark Victory Day on May 9.
Previously, Ukraine also celebrated Victory Day on May 9, but in 2015, then-president Petro Poroshenko renamed it the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II and designated May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation.
Zelensky emphasized the importance of commemorating Ukraine's contribution to the victory over Nazism and the need to avoid lies that suggest that any country or nation could claim sole credit for the victory.
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