Russia has canceled its annual Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg for the second year in a row, as Ukraine’s increasing deep-strike capabilities put even the country’s heavily defended major cities at risk. <\/p>\n
Navy Day is a national holiday in the Russian Federation traditionally observed on the last Sunday in July. Since 2017, the standard celebrations have involved elaborate displays of Russian naval might, including a major review of combat vessels from the Baltic, Black Sea, Northern, and Pacific fleets in St. Petersburg<\/a>. <\/p>\n But this year, the event was considerably drier. For the second year in a row,<\/a> the main parade was canceled due to security concerns. Russian President Vladimir Putin instead delivered an address to sailors at the Amiralty, the Navy’s headquarters in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\n Putin’s visit coincided with large-scale internet blackouts in St. Petersburg, city residents reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n While Putin praised the might of the Russian navy in his speech, the canceled parade and widespread internet shutdowns point to the growing ability of Ukrainian drones to threaten Russia’s power centers \u2014\u00a0and disrupt Putin’s propaganda theater. <\/p>\n In June, Ukraine launched a mass drone strike on St. Petersburg<\/a> during the first day of Russia’s Economic Forum<\/a>, Putin’s annual showcase of commercial prosperity. The attack struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, draping the city in black smoke as Putin and international business leaders arrived for the conference. <\/p>\n A month earlier, Moscow also significantly scaled back its Victory Day military parade<\/a> in the Red Square due to fears of Ukrainian strikes \u2014\u00a0despite the permit<\/a> for the ceremony granted by President Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n The Ukrainian president issued no such permit for the parade in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\n