I know Im not a news outlet or a journalist, but I'll do my best to try and cover this as a news story, so first, we need an epic title...
Today, an hour ago (1 am CST time) the Russian victory day parade started, this parade is to commemorate the victory against Nazi Germany in 1945, the event that ended ww2, at least in Europe.
Even right after the war ended, there was a parade, and every year after that there has been one, however, with the ongoing "special military operation" in Ukraine the epicness of the parade has fallen down.
Before watching this I made a bet with myself, I thought the NATO tanks that the Russians had captured were gonna be there, or that at least there'd be more tanks than last year.
And so, I started watching the transmition, although I was unaware it was already going on. Before watching it I was watching azumanga daioh, but I got bored and started watching youtube, when it appeared in my recommended.
And so, the first thing I see is Putin saying something that I don't understand, and who I can only guess is his parents behind him, but eventually, they play the Russian Anthem, always fun to hear, and Putin gives the order for the soldiers to scream: "Urraaaaa!!!!"
Finally, the parade starts, there is much more infantry than I remember seeing last year, so I'm actually hoping there will be more tanks now, the infantry parades, the blue berets or vdv appears, and the band plays some songs that I knew, like March of Stalin's Artillery and To Serve Russia, but finally, it's time for the vehicles, and so, the camera goes to the street where the vehicles are going to appear from, I watch with anticipation and...
A single T-34 tank appears, the same that was in last years parade, I laugh, where were the Leopard tanks that they captured? The American Tanks? I guess they couldn't figure out how to drive them in time.
But well, at least more vehicles do appear, there are some anti air vehicles, Some IFVs, and of course, it wouldn't be a superpower's military parade without the nukes and nuke launchers.
But well, the parade ends, Putin gets to the ground to talk to his Generals and says what I can only guess is: "Good job everyone, you did great, just try to have more tanks next time" and so, Putin leaves with his new bestie, a...black guy? wtf is a black guy doing in Russia? my best guess is that he's an African dictator with Russia's support, I'd tell you who he is but I don't know about African politics, the Belorussian president was there too though.
And so, that was 2024's Russian Victory day parade, and in conclusion, while Russia's Army may have grown in numbers, it has stayed the same in strength, the only reason they've been making gains in Ukraine is because of that, their numbers, but most of those are untrained conscripts, even in the parade, Im sure 90% of them were just conscripts, not actual recruits, but sadly, Ukraine is starting to run out of soldiers too and doing the same, western aid is the only thing that keeps the war going and the Ukrainians holding.