The Ukrainian authorities brought dozens of Russian vehicles destroyed in the fighting – tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and more – to the center of Kiev, making them an attraction for citizens. Photos and videos have gone viral on social media, captured by various international media, including the British Daily Mail.
Whole families poured into the central Khreshchatyk street. Children climbed onto the burned-out tanks and out of order guns, with their parents photographing them. A smaller number of destroyed Russian vehicles had previously been shown on Mykhailivskyi Square. The parade of enemy vehicles takes place on the eve of the celebrations for the independence of Ukraine, on 24 August. Celebrations for which gatherings were prohibited, for fear of a missile launch on the capital, local media reported. August 24 will be a special day not only because it is Ukrainian Independence Day from the then USSR, but it will also be exactly 6 months since the start of the war with Russia. The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Verchovna Rada on August 24, 1991 and established Ukraine as an independent state. In the 1991 referendum on the independence of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people expressed a broad consensus for the Act of Declaration of Independence, with more than 90% of votes in favor and 82% turnout. The referendum was held on the same day as Ukraine’s first direct presidential election, where all six presidential candidates supported independence and campaigned for “yes”.
Kiev, for the feast of Soviet independence, the mocking parade of the wreckage of destroyed Russian vehicles
The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, fears that on August 24 Russia may take some “particularly cruel” initiative. «Next week is very important for all of us, for our country. Our Flag Day, our Independence Day, ”recalled Zelensky in a message released by the Ukrainian media. “We must be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly bad,” said the leader of Kiev: “One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us Ukrainians, devalue our abilities, our heroes, sow despair,” fear, conflicts ”.
Ukraine, Zelensky: “Russia could do terrible things on Independence Day”
Ukraine is also preparing for a possible Russian missile attack on Kiev on national independence day. The alarm was raised by one of the Ukrainian president’s advisers, Oleksii Arestovych, however assuring that this will not change the military situation on the ground. It would be, he stressed, “a purely emotional gesture, to kill other civilians and ruin our party”. But “we will answer and spoil the party much more for Russia – he assured him, recalling the explosions in Crimea – In case of attack, it will be much worse for them”.