The peculiar parade of Russian tanks in Kiev for the Independence Day of Ukraine

@DefAviation ES 8·26·2023 · 22:38 0

This Thursday, August 24, Ukraine celebrated its Independence Day and also 18 months of resistance against the Russian invasion.

This was the capture by Ukraine of the '62 Red', a Russian helicopter Mi-8 AMTSh Terminator
This will be the first 42 F-16 fighters that Ukraine will receive, their versions and their weapons

This invasion began on February 24, 2022 with an attempt by Russia to take kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, by storm. An attempt that was frustrated by the heroic Ukrainian resistance, which not only prevented the Russians from taking that city, but also ended up making the entire Russian offensive in northern Ukraine fail.

On August 24, it was customary for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to hold a large parade in kyiv. Pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich suspended these parades between 2010 and 2014. The last parade was held in 2021, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the country's independence in 1991. You can see here images of that parade, the last one before the Russian invasion:

These parades were held on Khreshchatyk street, the main avenue of kyiv. This Monday, the Ukrainian authorities installed tanks and other Russian military vehicles on that same street, to celebrate a particular parade on Independence Day, but this time they exposed the captured trophies to the invaders. KM Military History has posted a video of this parade. Surely Putin did not imagine that his tanks would parade like this through kyiv when he gave the order to launch this invasion:

You can see here some screenshots of the video, indicating what appears:

A T-90A (right) and a T-72 (left).

Two 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzers.

An MT-LB armored vehicle (right) and a BTR-80 (left).

A BM-27 Uragan multiple rocket launcher.

A GAZ Tigr tactical vehicle.

A 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer.

An R-149MA1 command vehicle.

PS: In case anyone wants to know the song that appears in the video of the Russian tank parade, it is "Марш Нової Армії" (March of the New Army), performed by the Ukrainian rock band Vopli Vidopliassova in 2017. It is a patriotic march based on the "March of Ukrainian Nationalists" from 1929. This new version was premiered at the Ukrainian Independence Day parade in 2018. You can see here the official video clip of Vopli Vidopliassova: