Celebration of the Military Greatcoat

Three heads of state attended the parade dedicated to the sixtieth anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the fascist invaders. President Kuchma shared the grandstand in Kyiv with Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilkham Aliyev, along with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Presidential Chief of Staff Viktor Medvedchuk, and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. Numerous war veterans, people’s deputies, and diplomats stood in the background.

The legendary wartime tank T-34 carrying a red victory banner led the parade down the Khreshchatyk. Infantrymen, tank crews, artillerymen, pilots, and marines marched down Kyiv’s main boulevard, sporting stylized WWII military uniforms. Surviving war veterans followed them on military automobiles. Today’s defenders of the homeland marched in file, saluting their grandfathers. The parade culminated in a concert of popular wartime songs performed by khaki-clad singers.

On the eve of the parade the Ukraine Palace hosted a meeting of the Ukrainian, Russian, and Azerbaijani heads of state, together with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. In his speech Leonid Kuchma said that European democracy in its present sense would hardly have been possible without the Soviet victory in World War Two. “Victory came to European capitals, wearing our soldier’s greatcoat. The fate of successful and thriving Europe was decided sixty years ago in bloody battles on Ukrainian territory,” Kuchma stressed. He further thanked the CIS member states for their help in liberating Ukraine from the fascist invaders, accentuating that “our peoples, united by a common lofty goal, played a decisive role in delivering humanity from the brown-shirted plague.” “Today, when some groups are trying to cause an artificial split between Ukraine’s east and west and earn dubious political dividends with such attempts, I would like to call upon Ukrainians to unite and consolidate,” he added.

In a separate statement Ukraine’s president offered his greetings to war veterans. “In an unprecedented and cruel confrontation among dozens of nations Ukraine played one of the most tragic roles. It was twice ravished by the whirlwind of war: during the defense and in the course of the liberation offensive. Our land was drenched with the blood of soldiers and millions of civilians. Eternal memory to all those who perished in action, succumbed to Nazi genocide, or died of disease or wounds,” Leonid Kuchma said.

A number of other top-ranking politicians congratulated war veterans on the sixtieth anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the fascists: parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and the two frontrunners for the presidential seat-Ukraine’s Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and leader of the People’s Power Coalition Viktor Yushchenko. The festivities ended with a fireworks display in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.