Putin Mocked Over Single Tank at Victory Parade

A Soviet era T-34 tank rolls on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. Russia celebrates the 79th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

For the second year in a row, a lone Soviet-era tank rolled across Moscow’s Red Square during Russia’s Victory Day parade, prompting social media users to mock President Vladimir Putin’s military’s procession on a day which is traditionally used to display the country’s might.

A single T-34 tank participated in the parade in Moscow to mark May 9, or Victory Day, which is the annual commemoration of Nazi Germany’s defeat during World War II. Like last year, this year’s procession was notably muted in contrast to previous events amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, during which both sides have suffered extensive casualties and have lost vast amounts of military equipment.

Agentstvo, a Russian investigative site, said this year’s modest parade indicates that the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, continues to absorb all of the Russian army’s resources.

“Truly hilarious that the T-14 Armata has been found not only too costly to use in Ukraine, but also doesn’t exist in large enough numbers to survive the attrition of the Victory Day Parade in Moscow,” said Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This T-34, the legendary Soviet tank from World War II, was the only Russian tank on display at the Victory Day parade in Red Square today,” said Max Seddon, Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times. “The others must all be busy somewhere!”

Pro-Ukrainian X user (((Tendar))) wrote: Well, at least it runs.”

Another X user added: “Nothing says second army in the world more than a lonely tank at your victory day parade for a second year in a row.”

Last year, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense published a video mocking the lone T-34 tank that participated in Moscow’s Red Square Victory Day parade.

“This Victory Day, Russia had exactly one tank rolling down Red Square…a T-34 first produced in 1940,” the ministry said on X, sharing a 40-second video that included clips from last year’s military parade. It was made up of a montage of clips of the tank, played against the backdrop of Eric Carmen’s hit song “All by Myself.”

More than two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both Moscow and Kyiv have sustained significant losses.

Dutch open-source intelligence defense analysis website Oryx has visually confirmed that 2,001 Russian tanks have been destroyed, 156 have been damaged, 329 have been abandoned, and 514 have been captured since the start of the war.

Oryx has also visually confirmed that 547 Ukrainian tanks have been destroyed since the beginning of the war, with 68 damaged, 61 abandoned, and 132 captured.

Kyiv’s military said in an update on Thursday that Moscow has lost 7,429 tanks so far, including 11 in the past day. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces posts figures on Russia’s troop and equipment losses as part of its daily update on the war. Newsweek could not independently verify the figures.

Estimates of casualty numbers vary, with Ukraine’s figures usually exceeding those of its Western allies. Moscow rarely shares information on the number of casualties or equipment losses it has sustained in the war.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Wednesday that recent satellite imagery of depleted Russian military vehicle and weapon storage facilities indicates that Moscow is “currently sustaining its war effort largely by pulling from storage rather than by manufacturing new vehicles and certain weapons at scale.”

“Russia is relying on vast Soviet-era stores of vehicles and other equipment to sustain operations and losses in Ukraine,” the think tank said, adding that Moscow will likely struggle to sufficiently equip its units with materiel in the long term without President Vladimir Putin transferring the Russian economy to a wartime footing.

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