Russia prepares for 9 May, Victory Day: many troops and equipment involved in parade rehearsal
IRYNA BALACHUK — MONDAY, 18 APRIL 2022, 12:46
Russia has begun preparations for the Victory Parade on Moscow's Red Square, rehearsing with more than 11,000 troops and two hundred units of modern equipment and aircraft.
Source: Russian state propaganda publication RIA Novosti, citing the Russian Defence Ministry
Quote by the Russian Defence Ministry: "In total, 11,000 military personnel, 131 units of modern weapons and military equipment, and 77 planes and helicopters are involved in the preparations for the parade on Red Square."
Details: It is reported that the rehearsal for the parade took place in the village of Alabino near Moscow. It was attended by students and cadets from military educational institutions of the Ministry of Defence and other security agencies, and officers, sergeants and soldiers from forces and military units of the Western Military District.
Students from the Suvorov and Nakhimov military schools, the cadet corps, members of the Unarmia movement ["Young Army", an All-Russian military-patriotic movement], and Terek and Kuban Cossacks were also training.
The parade rehearsals reportedly featured Typhoon off-road vehicles [Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles], T-72B3M, T-90M Proryv ["Breakthrough"] and T-14 Armata tanks, BMP-2, BMP-3 and Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicles, the Iskander, Msta-C and Tornado-G mobile short-range ballistic missile systems [Multiple Launch Rocket Systems], the Tor-M2, Buk-M3 and S-400 Triumf missile defence systems, etc.
62 planes flew in the sky over the proving ground (Su-57, Su-35, Su-30SM and MiG-31BM fighters, Tu-160, Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3, IL-76 and IL-78 planes, Su-34 fighter-bombers, Su-24M), as did 15 helicopters (Mi-24 attack helicopters, groups of Ka-52, Mi-28n, Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters).
8 MiG-29 planes flew in the form of the letter "Z", and the so-called IL-80 "doomsday plane" also flew over [the Ilyushin Il-80 is a Russian airborne command and control aircraft modified from the Ilyushin Il-86 airliner].
Background:
- Earlier, the traitor Galina Danilchenko, the self-styled mayor of occupied Melitopol, said she was preparing to celebrate 9 May on a larger scale this year.
- The Russian Federation continues to hope it will occupy all of Ukraine and is even planning a "victory carnival" in Mariupol on 9 May.
