- Title: Ukrainian veterans mark Independence Day
- Date: 24th August 2021
- Summary: MEN WITH KIDS WALKING IN STREET FLAGS WAVING ON WIND MEDALS ON MILITARY UNIFORM (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VETERAN, MARINE CORPS SENIOR LIEUTENANT OLEG BONDARENKO, SAYING: "For the last 30 years, Ukraine has changed the way of thinking. Not everybody but many and it hurts, it's bleeding but it will be alright later on." MEDALS ON UNIFORM (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VETERAN, MARINE CORPS SENIOR LIEUTENANT OLEG BONDARENKO, SAYING: "Achievements? We left slavery. We are not afraid anymore, we stopped looking back, we've learned to think what would the next step be and yet the step ahead. That's the main thing. And we feel free." VETERANS WITH FLAGS MARCH PARTICIPANTS HOLDING LARGE RED AND BLACK FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) KYIV RESIDENT, MARIA FILIPCHUK, SAYING: "The development of our army has been the best achievement in recent years. If it wasn't for the army, If it wasn't for the soldiers, then probably we would have lost our independence long ago and our identity too. The Ukrainians' only hope is our army." PEOPLE HOLDING LARGE RED AND BLACK FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) VOLUNTEER, NATALIA VORONKOVA, SAYING: "We have learned to fight for our independence, disregarding our lives, we are ready to sacrifice our lives for our independence, and we are ready to sacrifice our health for our independence. This is probably the most important thing. We began to appreciate it, we began to understand the meaning of this word - "independence", to be independent, to be free." ORTHODOX CHAPLAINS CLAPPING HANDS CHAPLAINS CLAPPING HANDS NEAR MARCHING PARTICIPANTS SPECTATORS CLAPPING HANDS VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS MARCHING MAN WITH YELLOW-BLUE BALLOONS CROWD MARCHING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) VOLUNTEER, ALEXANDER MAKHNO, SAYING: "30 years ago, Ukraine was given independence for free, it was not deserved, and we probably weren't appreciating it. And in the last 7 years, when we've been fighting for our independence, shedding a lot of blood for it, we began to appreciate it." MAN WITH MEDALS CHILD DANCING WRAPPED IN UKRAINIAN FLAG PEOPLE MARCHING WITH HUGE UKRAINIAN FLAG CROWD WITH FLAGS
- Embargoed: 7th September 2021 18:03
- Keywords: Independence Day Ukraine march parade
- Location: KYIV, UKRAINE
- City: KYIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Defence,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003ERN3INT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Veterans of the war in Donbass, their families, and volunteers took part in the March of the Defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday (August 24) celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.
Several thousand people marched through the central streets of Kyiv, military doctors, and chaplains, members of the Belarusians diaspora in Ukraine, as well as relatives of those killed on the Maidan of Independence among them.
Ukraine also held its first military parade in several years on Tuesday, declaring it would reclaim areas of its territory annexed by Russia.
Units of the Ukrainian army, tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, and air defence systems marched along the central street of Kyiv, while a parade of Ukrainian Navy units took place in the Black Sea port of Odessa.
Relations between Kyiv and Moscow collapsed after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the outbreak of war between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people in seven years.
On Monday (August 23), more than 40 countries took part in the Crimea platform, a summit in Kyiv designed to keep international attention focused on the return of Crimea.
(Production: Serhiy Takhmazov, Yury Bakhnov) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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