Russia will skip heavy tanks and missiles from its May 9 Victory Day parade for the first time since 2007, a direct result of equipment losses and manpower strain from the ongoing Ukraine war. The parade—Moscow's traditional celebration of WWII victory—will still proceed in Red Square but without the military hardware displays that have been central to the event for nearly two decades. This marks a significant symbolic and practical shift, exposing the real costs the Kremlin is paying in Ukraine while also raising questions about force readiness that Putin typically uses the parade to demonstrate. The decision was likely forced by simple logistics: Russia doesn't have the excess equipment to both fight in Ukraine and stage the traditional show.