Kyiv hosted a military parade on the 27th anniversary of Ukraine's independence on August 24. Ukraine's national anthem was performed by a choir amid a solemn gun salvo. Then the choir performed a solemn prayer for the army of Ukraine, after which the military parade being accompanied by the military band began. The parade was inspected by Ukrainian Defense Minister, General of the Army Stepan Poltorak. Read also Poroshenko at Kyiv parade: Tested by war, economic crisis, Ukraine "builds strong muscles" The new military greeting "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!" was officially chanted during the military parade for the first time over Ukraine's independence. Previously, the army used the greetings inherited from the Soviet times.
Some 4,500 soldiers, 250 military vehicles, and 18 units comprised of 300 foreign troops took part in the parade, which also featured women who are in Ukraine's military forces.
President Petro Poroshenko has marked Ukraine's Independence Day by announcing at a military parade in Kyiv that his country "has cut all ties with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union."
Poroshenko also said during the August 24 event that Ukraine needs to cut all ties with the Russian Orthodox Church "that blesses" Russia's "hybrid war against Ukraine."
"Our generation's major goal is to make our independence irreversible, to turn Ukraine into a strong and great country without the possibility of returning to the zone of Russian influence," Poroshenko said.
"The issue [of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's split from the Russian Orthodox Church] is of the same importance as such issues as strengthening of our army, defending our language, our struggle to join the European Union and NATO," he said. "That is another aim of our historic path, a significant component of our independence."
Some 4,500 soldiers, 250 military vehicles, and 18 units comprised of 300 foreign troops took part in the parade, which also featured women who are in Ukraine's military forces.
Dispensing with a traditional Soviet-era military greeting used in previous years, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak greeted the marching troops by declaring, "Glory to Ukraine!" The troops replied: "Glory to the heroes!"
