- May 8, 2026
- 10:37 pm
- World News
Kyiv in three days.
How many times this phrase was heard in February 2022 — with smug confidence, with an imperial smirk, with television audacity. More than four years of a major war have passed, and now Ukraine officially “permits” Russia to hold a parade on Red Square.
Heh-heh, as they say.
On May 8, 2026, the website of the President of Ukraine published Decree No. 374/2026 “On holding a parade in Moscow“.
here – https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/3742026-59389
The document states: to permit the parade in Moscow on May 9, 2026, and during the parade — from 10 a.m. Kyiv time — to exclude the territorial square of Red Square from the plan of using Ukrainian weapons.
Formally — a document.
In essence — trolling of the 80th level.
That’s why the story spread so quickly: it’s simultaneously about war, negotiations, prisoner exchange, American mediation, and how Ukraine learned to speak to Moscow in a language that is particularly painfully understood there.
What exactly did Zelensky sign
The Ukrainian decree looks almost bureaucratically dry. But that’s its strength. The text doesn’t look like a meme, isn’t written as a joke, and isn’t formatted as an emotional social media post.
It looks like an official document.
That’s why the effect is stronger: the country that Russia was going to “take in three days” now documentarily decides where and when Moscow can hold its own parade.
Full text of the decree translated from Ukrainian:
”
DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 374/2026
On holding a parade in Moscow
Considering numerous requests, for humanitarian purposes, as outlined in negotiations with the American side on May 8, 2026, I decree:
Permit the parade in Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.
During the parade — from 10 a.m. Kyiv time on May 9, 2026 — exclude the territorial square of Red Square from the plan of using Ukrainian weapons.
Red Square square:
55.754413 37.617733
55.755205 37.619181
55.753351 37.622854
55.752504 37.621538This Decree comes into force from the day of its signing.
President of Ukraine V. ZELENSKY
May 8, 2026
”
For Kremlin propaganda, this is an extremely unpleasant picture. The May 9 parade in Russia has been presented for decades as a demonstration of greatness, strength, and historical invincibility. And here comes a Ukrainian document that turns this “greatness” into a zone of temporary allowance.
Not a victory parade.
A parade that Ukraine magnanimously “permitted.”
Red Square is less important than Ukrainian prisoners
But behind this irony is not just mockery of Putin.
Volodymyr Zelensky separately explained the logic of the Ukrainian decision. According to him, in recent days there have been many appeals and signals regarding the “configuration” of May 9 in Moscow against the backdrop of Ukrainian long-range sanctions. He reminded that the principle of mirroring in Ukraine’s actions is well known and has been conveyed to the Russian side.
And then the key phrase was heard: Red Square is less important to Ukraine than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home.
This is where the joke ends and the main theme begins.
Ukraine received Russia’s consent for a prisoner exchange in the format of 1000 for 1000. A ceasefire should also be established on May 9, 10, and 11. Donald Trump previously announced a three-day truce and the exchange of 1000 prisoners from each side, calling it the result of his request to both sides.
So the parade in Moscow became not the goal, but a bargaining decoration.
Ukraine chose people.
Why this looks like political humiliation for Moscow
For Russia, May 9 has long ceased to be just a day of remembrance of the victory over Nazism. The Kremlin has turned this date into a cult of military power, imperial self-praise, and justification for new aggression.
Therefore, the parade on Red Square is not just columns, music, and a podium. It’s the central spectacle of Putin’s Russia.
And here Ukraine inserts its remark into this spectacle: it can be held, the square is temporarily untouched, the reason is humanitarian.
Kyiv in three days, huh?
Now it’s not Russian generals telling where Ukraine will be. Now the Ukrainian president signs a document about what will happen in Moscow, even if in an ironic, demonstrative, and politically subtle form.
For the Israeli audience, this technique is understandable. In a region where symbols carry enormous weight, sometimes one formulation works stronger than a long speech. Especially when it overturns the usual picture of power.
Russia wanted to show the parade as proof of control.
Ukraine showed that the very idea of this parade now depends not only on the Kremlin’s desire.
Trump, truce, and exchange 1000 for 1000
Earlier, Donald Trump wrote on his social network that he is pleased to announce the introduction of a three-day truce on May 9, 10, and 11 in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. According to him, it should include the suspension of all hostilities and the exchange of 1000 prisoners from each side.
Zelensky, in response, emphasized not the parade, but the return of people from Russian captivity. This is an important difference.
Moscow builds a cult around the square.
Ukraine talks about prisoners.
That’s why the decree looks so painful for the Kremlin. It simultaneously shows: Ukraine retains long-range capabilities, controls its own military logic, uses the principle of mirroring, and at the same time is ready to put the humanitarian issue above a symbolic blow to the parade picture.
For NAnovosti — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency this story is important not as another meme of war, but as an example of how Ukraine works on several levels at once: military, diplomatic, humanitarian, and informational. Israel knows well that the struggle for meaning sometimes goes no less than the struggle for territory.
Why the “parade of shame” became a trap for the Kremlin
Putin’s Russia has been building the myth of an inviolable Moscow for years. Within this mythology, Red Square is almost a sacred stage of the regime.
But the war changed everything.
Now Moscow lives with the threat of Ukrainian long-range strikes, with worries about drones, with airport closures, with nervous parade security, and with the need to ask for silence where they used to shout about their own omnipotence.
And here comes Zelensky’s decree.
It doesn’t physically destroy the parade. It does worse for propaganda: it turns it into a permitted event under Ukrainian political sarcasm.
The parade seems to be happening.
But it no longer looks like a demonstration of strength.
Because if your main military spectacle requires international negotiations, American mediation, a ceasefire, and a Ukrainian decree with the coordinates of Red Square, then it’s no longer a victory parade.
It’s a parade of vulnerability.
What does “principle of mirroring” mean
Zelensky reminded that the principle of mirroring in Ukraine’s actions is well known to the Russian side. This is a transparent signal: if Russia hits Ukraine, Ukraine reserves the right to respond.
But this time, the additional argument was the exchange of prisoners.
Such an approach is important. Ukraine does not renounce the right to respond and does not pretend to believe in Moscow’s goodwill. It simply records: there is a chance to return people — so this chance must be used.
War does not cancel cold calculation.
Irony does not cancel the humanitarian goal.
And the decree, written in almost bureaucratic language, actually speaks very harshly: Ukraine sees Moscow, understands the significance of Red Square, can reach it, but today chooses to return its own.
Why this is important for Israel
For Israel, this story is read not only as Ukrainian trolling.
The Israeli society well understands what captivity, hostages, negotiations, a ceasefire, mediators, and the painful choice between military opportunity and the chance to return people home mean.
That’s why Zelensky’s phrase that Red Square is less important than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners sounds especially understandable in Israel.
You can laugh at the Kremlin’s humiliation.
And you should laugh because the imperial arrogance of Russia deserves just such a tone.
But at the center of the decision is not a joke. At the center of the decision are Ukrainian soldiers who can return from captivity. Their families. Their lives. Their chance to see home again.
That’s why the Ukrainian decree on “permitting the parade” works in two registers at once. For Moscow — a sarcastic blow to pride. For Ukraine — a tool accompanying a humanitarian agreement. For the outside world — a sign that Kyiv knows how to combine strength, irony, and responsibility.
Kyiv in three days?
No.
Now Moscow for a few hours — by Ukrainian permission.