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Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a presidential decree on Friday night, confirming he would “permit” Russia to hold the Victory Day parade on Saturday.
“Taking into account numerous requests, and for humanitarian purposes outlined during negotiations with the American side on 8 May 2026, I hereby decree: to permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.”
US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire for 9, 10 and 11 May in his post on Truth Social.
“This ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country,” Trump said.
“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”
Zelenskyy confirmed in his decree that the truce would begin on Saturday at 10 am Kyiv time and applies only to Red Square and its perimeter.
“For the duration of the parade (starting at 10:00 am Kyiv time on 9 May 2026), the territorial sector of Red Square shall be excluded from the operational use plan of Ukrainian weaponry,” the presidential decree said, outlining the exact coordinates of the sector of Moscow that comprises the Red Square.
Ukraine’s presidential office confirmed that the Russian side was specifically concerned about the square and the rest of Moscow, and that Russia is not included in the ceasefire deal outlined in Zelenskyy’s decree.
Extra security for Moscow and Putin
After Russia broke the Ukraine-proposed truce on Wednesday and Zelenskyy vowed to respond “in kind”, the Kremlin tightened its already-reinforced security measures, including those for Putin, as he is expected to preside over the parade on Saturday.
According to numerous media reports confirmed by Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin has also deployed air defence systems from Russian regions to Moscow for the parade.
Earlier this week Zelenskyy said extra layers have been added in central Moscow, leaving the rest of Russia without air-defence protection.
“We see that in recent weeks, additional rings of air defence have been built up around Moscow at the expense of a large-scale redeployment of systems from Russia’s regions,” Zelenskyy said at the time.
Authorities in at least 11 Russian regions have called off public celebrations entirely, citing security concerns, according to media reports.
Among those regions is Chuvashia, where a Ukrainian attack on a military industrial site in the regional capital Cheboksary on Tuesday demonstrated Kyiv’s capability to strike targets over 1,000km deep into the Russian rear with domestically-made weapons.
Events were also cancelled in Russia-annexed Crimea, an internationally recognised territory of Ukraine.