Around 4,500 troops and 250 military vehicles will parade through the center of Kyiv on Ukraine’s Independence Day on Aug. 24 according to the country’s defense minister Stepan Poltorak.
“In general, a total number of 24 ceremonial convoys will march through (the Khreshchatyk Street), presenting combat formations of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Service, and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other organizations that fulfill missions of enforcing Ukraine’s security and defense,” the high-profile official said on Aug. 7 while inspecting the troops’ parade rehearsals at an airfield belonging to the Antonov Plant, a state-owned Kyiv-based aircraft manufacturer.
“For the first time ever, we will demonstrate both customary and recently-accepted examples of military hardware during the parade and the mechanized convoy march. Also, there will be armament pieces that are currently undergoing state acceptance tests.”
Poltorak did not specify which of Ukraine’s new weapons the Armed Forces was about to demonstrate.
In 2017, a parade in central Kyiv particularly showed off a number of advanced Oplot main battle tanks, as well as the Verba multiple-launch rocket systems, which is a modernized Ukrainian version of BM-21 Grad systems. Among this year’s novelties expected to be rolled out are 300-millimeter Vilkha missiles, the final tests of which had been finished in late April, or new self-propelled artillery guns Bohdana fed with NATO-standard 155-millimeter rounds.
The minister also added that the march would be joined by foreign troops.
“As of now, 15 partner nations confirmed the participation of their units, including some North-Atlantic Alliance member states, along with honored guests from friendly countries,” Poltorak asserted.
While the foot troops prepare for the parade at the Antonov’s runway strip in Kyiv, the armored formations rehearse their maneuvers at another military airfield at the town of Ozerne near Zhytomyr some 120 kilometers west of Ukraine’s capital city.
On Aug. 18 and 20, the military would conduct two tryouts in downtown Kyiv, while the full-dress rehearsal was scheduled on Aug. 22, the Ministry of Defense press service also added on Aug. 7.
This year, the celebrations would mark the 27th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, along with the centenary of the country’s statehood proclaimed in January 1918 but later destroyed following the ultimate victory of the Bolshevik forces in Ukraine and the declaration of Ukrainian Soviet Republic in early 1918.
