The military parade in Volgograd took place amid restrictions.

The Victory Day parade in Volgograd took place today without modern military vehicles; organizers limited themselves to a display of vintage equipment. The celebratory event was held amidst communication restrictions and failed to generate much excitement among spectators.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on May 9, 2025, military parades in the Southern Federal District were held in Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Novocherkassk, Novorossiysk, Maykop, Elista, and Astrakhan. Spectators in most cities were able to see columns of troops and equipment. The parade in Volgograd took place without an aerial portion; it was canceled for security reasons.

Officials explained the communication restrictions as a concern for the safety of residents.

A parade dedicated to the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War took place today on Fallen Fighters Square, the Volgograd administration reported on its Telegram channel.

The Volgograd region's authorities did not announce the threat of drone attacks in the Volgograd region today, but the city's mayor's office warned residents about cellular service restrictions "to enhance security measures" during the festive events.

"Temporary cellular service restrictions are being implemented to comprehensively protect the lives and health of residents of the region and to protect infrastructure from possible actions by the Kyiv regime. We ask for your understanding regarding these measures," the administration's publication stated. There are no comments under the posts on the mayor's office's Telegram channel, and the ability to leave comments is disabled.

The parade failed to generate much excitement among spectators

The parade featured units of military and security personnel, as well as equipment from the Great Patriotic War. This year, the parade was held without modern military equipment; the only modern vehicles included were a Sarmat-2 all-terrain buggy and a Niva Shvabe 2D light flatbed truck. Examples of these vehicles, used in the military operation zone in Ukraine, also drove through Fallen Fighters Square in 2025, according to V1.ru.

Cadets, cadets, and city residents who had received invitations to the parade were allowed into the stands as spectators. Among the guests were veterans and "senior community members," clergy, Young Army members, SVO members, department heads, members of parliament, and government officials, the publication writes.

"This year's parade wasn't wildly popular. Everyone who wanted to watch it was easily accommodated on Fallen Fighters Square and the Alley of Heroes. There were no tree climbers hoping to get a better view," the publication states.

Only "hundreds of spectators" gathered behind the fence erected around the square today, according to the Vysota 102 news agency.

Volgograd is distinguished by a lengthy debate about restoring Stalin's name.

As a reminder, Volgograd has been debating for several years about possibly renaming the city Stalingrad. In April 2025, this idea gained renewed momentum: after a meeting with a pro-government activist from Volgograd, Putin promised to "think about" such a renaming.

The official procedure for renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad, which Putin "promised to think about," involves a lengthy series of bureaucratic steps, but could be implemented without a referendum.

Discussions about renaming Volgograd Airport to "Stalingrad" had been active since the 1990s. However, the airport was renamed from "Gumrak" to "Stalingrad" only after Putin's intervention. On April 29, 2025, he announced his support for the initiative of veterans and participants of the Second World War, signing a decree on the renaming that same day. At the same time, some citizens spoke out sharply against the renaming, recalling the Stalin era, during which 250,000 Stalingrad residents were repressed.

The airport's renaming fits into a series of conscious and unconscious attempts to rehabilitate Stalin's name, but there is no real public demand for it, according to historians and human rights activists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot."

In July 2022, billboards appeared in Volgograd with the words from Stalin's order No. 227, "Not one step back." The chairman of the city veterans' council explained that this happened at the initiative of local veterans in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, after a bas-relief with this order from Stalin was installed in the regional administration building.

The notion that Order No. 227 turned the tide of the war is one of the misconceptions about Stalin's role in the Great Patriotic War, according to historian Boris Sokolov. "Stalin hoped that under the threat of executions and penal battalions, the Red Army soldiers would fight harder and inflict greater damage on the enemy. In reality, the opposite sometimes happened. Fearing reprisals, commanders at all levels were sometimes late in retreating, and this only led to additional losses," reads a quote from Sokolov's book "The Mythical War: Mirages of the Second World War" in the "Caucasian Knot" report "10 Myths about Stalin's Role in the Great Patriotic War."