Victory Day Parades
| Victory Day Parades | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Russian: Парад Победы Ukrainian: Парад Перемоги Belarusian: Парад Перамогі |
| Also called | Victory Parades |
| Observed by | Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, some former Soviet countries |
| Observances | Moscow, Minsk, Kyiv, Astana, other cities |
| Date | 9 May |
| Next time | 9 May 2026 |
| Frequency | annual |
Victory Day parades (Russian: Парад Победы, romanized: Parad Pobedy) are common military parades that are held on 9 May in some post-Soviet nations, primarily Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. They are held to honor the traditional Victory Day holiday, which commemorates the German Instrument of Surrender on 8 May, 1945 (which was early midnight on 9 May in Moscow Time) and the end of the Second World War in Europe (also known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia). In 2015, the Ukrainian government renamed the holiday as "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II" as part of decommunization laws and in 2023 moved the holiday to 8 May, renaming it to Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 – 1945.
The People's Republic of China, once also an Eastern Bloc member until the Sino-Soviet split in 1961, also started holding decennial military parades on 3 September from 2015 onwards to commemorate the Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). Prior to 2015, the V-J Days were commemorated every ten years, but with only civilian events and official evening galas.