Russia Cancels Navy Day Parade After Wave of Ukrainian Drone Attacks

Every July since 2017, St. Petersburg has held a massive Navy Day parade for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other members of Russia's senior leadership. This year, for the first time ever, the event was called off at the last minute - likely because of the threat of Ukrainian drones. 

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, said Sunday that the parade was canceled due to unnamed "security reasons." While Peskov did not provide further details of the rationale, the UK Ministry of Defense assesses that it is almost certain that the parade - and all larger commemorative events across Russia - have been canceled due to force protection concerns. 

"Small ceremonies will highly likely take place and Navy Day remains a Russian national holiday," the UK MOD said in an intelligence assessment. 

The Navy Day parade is among Russia's biggest and best-publicized military events, and Putin will typically take part from a shoreside reviewing stand or aboard a VIP launch. Security precautions surrounding the event are stringent. 

The cancellation follows one day after a large-scale Ukrainian drone operation over parts of Western Russia. Ukraine has developed technology and operating methods to launch long-range drone attacks on targets deep inside of Russian territory, typically targeting weapons factories, airfields, rail lines, refineries and oil and gas infrastructure. 

In the area around St. Petersburg, higher-than-normal air-defense intercepts of Ukrainian drones prompted the regional airport to cancel flights for several hours overnight Saturday. Across Russia, about 100 drones were shot down Saturday night, Russia's defense ministry claimed.