Russia leaves front without air defense for parade: What this gives Ukraine

Russia is redeploying about 280 air defense systems to Moscow to protect the capital during the May 9 parade.

This was reported by military expert and founder of the NPO “Reactive Post,” Pavlo Narozhny, on Radio NV.

According to Narozhny, such a redeployment creates “gaps in defense” in other areas, opening opportunities for Ukraine to strike enemy military targets.

“If they are relocating that many systems, it means they are being removed from combat duty somewhere. And this is a chance for our forces to carry out targeted strikes on arsenals, airfields, and command posts,” the expert explained.

Narozhny notes that Russia is experiencing a shortage of air defense systems, especially long-range ones (S-300, S-400). To effectively cover its territory, they need more than 1,200 such systems, but according to estimates, they have only about 200 in service.

Most of these systems are deployed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine — they are used to protect military facilities, logistics routes, and warehouses.

According to sources, systems of various ranges — from Buk to S-400 — are being transferred to Moscow, including from Kazan and Grozny. The capital plans to establish multiple layers of defense.

At the same time, Narozhny emphasizes that even this number of systems does not guarantee complete protection.

“Protecting Moscow requires enormous resources. Even 280 systems are not a guarantee. We’ve already seen drones hitting an arsenal 70 km from the capital. This means new vulnerable points will continue to appear,” he added.