More than 200 military vehicles and 4,000 soldiers marched along Kyiv’s central Khreshchatyk Street during the military parade that celebrated the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the independent Ukraine on Aug. 24.
For the third time, Ukraine celebrates its Independence
Day amid the war with Russia that caused the country more than 9,000 deaths
among the civilians and military since its start in 2014, according to the United
Nations.
Despite the rain and grim clouds, tens of
thousands came to cheer the Ukrainian military who marched Khreshchatyk Street.
Ukraine had its first military parade to
mark the Independence in 1996. The next parade was held in 1998, and from then
the event was held annually till Ukrainian ousted ex-President Viktor
Yanukovych canceled the parade in 2011. When Yanukovych ran to Russia after the
EuroMaidan Revolution, his successor, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
resumed the parade in 2014.
Most of the spectators at the parade wore vyshyvankas,
traditional folk embroidered shirts, or the colorful T-shirts with Ukrainian
symbols such as Ukraine’s coat of arms, the trident. Some watched the parade
covering themselves with the Ukrainian flags to escape the cold and rain.
Small groups of people stood out in the
crowd because of their khaki military uniform. They were former and current
servicemen and army volunteers who were back from the front line.
Many families with small children were
taking pictures in front of the military, and, when the column moved, parents
put their kids on the shoulders so they could see servicemen marching in the
new neat uniform.
The servicemen from the National Guard of
Ukraine, marines, airborne brigades, and other soldiers of the Ukrainian army
marched along with the volunteers, veterans and students of military academies.
Unlike in 2015, this year’s parade
exhibited various large military equipment, such as various models of tanks,
armored personal carriers, tactical ballistic missile Tochka-U, multiple rocket
launchers Grad and Smerch, medium-range missile Buk and short-range Osa.
Ex-soldier Yaroslav Solovyov came to see
the parade with his wife.
“Look, I have shot from this one,” he told her,
pointing at a passing tank.
In 2014, Solovyov served in the Kyiv-12
battalion that fought in Luhansk. Solovyov came to the parade for the first
time ever, and only to meet his comrades.
Another fighter from the same battalion, Yevhen
Kravchenko, said that he came to the parade because the independence had a
special meaning to him now that he defended it from Russia.
“Twenty five years – Ukraine is like an
adult person now,” he said with a smile. “We may not be wise enough yet, but in
these 25 years Ukrainians became more patriotic and more responsible.”
Many Ukrainian politicians showed up at the
parade, including three out of four former presidents – Leonid Kuchma, Leonid
Kravchuk, Viktor Yushchenko and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Polish President Andrzej
Duda came to Kyiv for the celebrations.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
delivered a speech. He spoke about Ukraine’s history, country’s uneasy path to
independence and praised Ukrainian military who defended the country’s east. He
revealed that 2,504 Ukrainian soldiers were killed since the beginning of the war.
“Looking back to over two years of the war,
we can state with certainty that the enemy failed to achieve any of its
strategic objectives and failed to bring Ukraine to its knees,” Poroshenko
said.
He added that the parade is a way to demonstrate
to Ukrainians the achievements of the army.
“The public will see their new army created
almost from scratch within the two years. The public will make sure that the armed
forces get stronger year by year, and the national security strengthens,” Poroshenko
said. (Full transcript of Poroshenko’s speech is available on the president’s official website)
His words came amid debates whether Ukraine
should hold parade amid continuing war with Russia. Critics say that military
parade is a Soviet Union’s legacy and show off event that only districts
people’s attention and doesn’t help soldiers on a front lines.
Svitlana Kuzmich, an attorney from Kyiv,
doesn’t agree. She says that the parade helps people show patriotism, support
the servicemen and cheer up the nation’s spirit. Kuzmich attends parade each
Independence Day, but this year’s was her favorite because “it showed the power
of our state.”
Kuzmich said she wanted to see the
equipment bought with the money allocated through the military tax established
in 2014, and that she was satisfied and impressed by the army vehicles she saw.
“This parade proves that our country can
protect itself. I believe that the war in the east will end soon,” she said.
