The Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea said on Wednesday that the annual Victory Day parade there had been cancelled for security reasons, reflecting growing anxiety over potential Ukrainian attacks on Russian-occupied territory.

Victory Day — which commemorates the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II — is Russia’s most important secular holiday. The parades, this year scheduled for May 9, are highly symbolic showcases of Moscow’s military might and typically take place in major Russian cities along with the main parade in Moscow’s Red Square.

Wednesday’s announcement by the head of Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, came after similar moves by the local authorities in two regions of Russia.

“This decision was made because of security considerations,” the Kremlin-appointed official, Sergei V. Aksyonov, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday, adding that traditional workers’ day demonstrations on May 1 had also been cancelled.

The heads of the Kursk and Belgorod regions, where villages and towns on the border with Ukraine have been repeatedly shelled over the past months, also have cancelled Victory Day parades.