Armored vehicles and soldiers paraded in Kiev yesterday in a defiant National Day display of military power Ukrainian President Petro Poroskenko said is being mobilized for an historic war of independence from Russia.
Soldiers — some due to head directly to the front where government forces are fighting pro-Russia separatists — marched past Kiev’s Independence Square, followed by a parade of armored vehicles armed with anti-tank weapons and trucks towing missile systems.
In a ceremony combining patriotism, solemnity and deep emotion, Poroshenko said the war against the separatists, who it says are armed by Moscow, would likely enter history as “the 2014 Patriotic War.”
Photo: Reuters
In a clear reference to Russia’s role, he said the country was fighting “a war against external aggression, for Ukraine, for its freedom, for its people, for independence.”
Fighting continued in the east yesterday, as artillery shells rained down on central Donetsk, a remaining stronghold of the pro-Russia rebels. The separatists accuse Kiev of deliberately targeting civilians, something Ukrainian leaders deny.
Rebels laid out destroyed Ukrainian military hardware in the city’s central square in preparation for their own celebrations meant to counter Kiev’s festivities.
Poroshenko announced that 40 billion hryvnia (US$3 billion) would be spent on re-equipping the army from next year to 2017. Still, Ukraine’s armed forces are only a fraction of the size of Russia’s.
Referring to one detachment who took part in the marchpast, he said: “Before you, a new military column is heading directly to the zone of the ‘anti-terrorist’ operation.”
Organizers of the festivities in Kiev said the 1,500 service personnel taking part included about 120 men who had already seen action.
There were moments of deep emotion as the flag was dipped in respect to the 100 or so protesters shot dead by police snipers in the last days of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich’s rule.
Poroshenko and his family put wreaths and knelt before shrines to the “Heaven’s Hundred.”
The heady mix of patriotism and militarism seemed to underscore a new confidence in Kiev’s leadership that the war is going their way.
In recent weeks, government troops have gained the upper hand against the separatists, pushing them back into their main strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.
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