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Putin’s spokesman said the Victory Day aerial display was called off due to bad weather.
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However, weather forecasts over Moscow during the parade forecast sunny skies and wind at 5 mph.
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The “Z” formation was seen in television reports showing preparation for the May 9 parade.
Russia was expected to use its Victory Day celebrations to flex its aerial might, but a planned aerial demonstration over Moscow was called off suddenly on Monday, according to authorities, because of inclement weather.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, told local media outlet Kommersant that the aerial segment of the ceremony was canceled because of “bad weather.”
However, during Putin’s speech at just past 10 a.m. local time, an AccuWeather reading of the local weather in Russia showed “mostly sunny” weather in Moscow, with “excellent” air quality. The Accuweather forecast for the rest of the day indicated that it would be “mostly sunny,” with some clouds, and that wind speed was around 5 mph.
The May 9 Victory Parade, which marks the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany, was scaled down by around a third this year but was still expected to include an aerial show of planes pulling into a “Z” formation.
Tass, a state-owned Russian news agency, reported on May 4 that the aerial display was to feature 77 planes to represent the number of years since Moscow’s victory over Germany. Per Tass, the display included the Il-80, the “doomsday” plane that the Russians claim is nuke-proof, and other bomber jets.
Tass also detailed plans for eight MiG fighter jets to fly over the Red Square.
The white Z started out as a mysterious Russian military symbol and has now been co-opted by Russia’s military and nationalist groups within the country as a rallying symbol for victory.
The same display was seen in television reports as well.
During his Victory Day speech, Putin said the day was meant to mark the “triumph of our unified Soviet Union.”
“You are fighting for your motherland, for its future, so no one will forget the lessons of the Second World War,” Putin told the Russian soldiers gathered in Red Square.
As Putin called up anti-Nazi rhetoric on Victory Day, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Oleksandr Tkachenko said that Russia had bombed a Jewish cemetery in Hlukhiv, Sumy Oblast. Ukraine also said that Russia bombed the Holocaust memorial site Babyn Yar earlier this year.
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