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Post-Orbán Dividend for Ukraine
27 April 2026
It is a week of high-level gatherings. In Yerevan, leaders of the European Political Community convene for their eighth summit right under Russia’s nose – to once again search for a deterrent against the Russian threat and America’s regrouping in Europe.
While Europe’s democracies deliberate in Armenia, the Kremlin proceeds with its own choreography – the annual Victory Day parade on 9 May, commemorating the Soviet role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
This year, however, the spectacle will be markedly diminished. Fearing Ukrainian long-range drone strikes, Russian authorities have scrapped the traditional mechanised column of tanks and missiles, the first such curtailment in nearly two decades, while Kyiv has firmly rejected Moscow’s proposal for a one-day ceasefire to facilitate the event. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, en route to Armenia, dismissed the idea as ‘absurd’, a stance that leaves Ukraine effectively dictating the terms on which Russia may stage its annual pageant of historical narcissism.