Turning the pages back... August 24, 2003 (08/22/04)

Turning the pages back...

August 24, 2003

Reporting on last year's celebration's of Ukrainian Independence Day, Kyiv Press Bureau chief Roman Woronowycz wrote that Yevhen Marchuk became Ukraine's first minister of defense not wearing the epaulets of rank and the uniform of Ukraine's top military commander to take the kilometer drive down the Khreschatyk to greet the troops under his command when he kicked off the annual military parade.

After a flyover by a squadron of MiG-29 fighter jets, nearly 5,000 troops from all the various segments of Ukraine's extensive armed forces stood stiffly at attention as the former KGB general reviewed them while standing in a 1970s-era convertible Zil limousine, the first of a series in events that day marking 12 years since Ukraine declared independence.

According to Mr. Woronowycz's news story, after moving smartly from the vintage luxury automobile to the review stand, Mr. Marchuk told the crowd of some 20,000 onlookers lined up and down Kyiv's main thoroughfare that the military parade remained the centerpiece of Independence Day activities because it would reassert the military's ready state and its preparedness to defend the country's independence and sovereignty.

"The parade of the armed forces demonstrates the high standards of preparedness," Mr. Marchuk said. Dressed in a restrained pale green business suit, the recently appointed defense minister reaffirmed the country's move toward democracy and free markets and stressed, "The individual is the highest value of society and the state."

Mr. Marchuk reiterated the position of the government to move Ukraine into NATO, a change of direction he has spurred, and the need for the government as well as the military to undergo extensive reform to pave the way there. "Ukraine's armed forces must begin to rise to the standards of the North Atlantic Alliance, but it must be done within the country's economic abilities," explained Mr. Marchuk.

President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn and most of the country's leadership stood alongside Mr. Marchuk as he gave his address. They listened too, as 5,000 soldiers filled Kyiv's downtown area with the words to Ukraine's national anthem, backed by a 1,000-strong military band.

It was the first time the words to the anthem were sung at an Independence Day parade. While the Verkhovna Rada sanctioned the music to "Sche Ne Vmerla Ukraina" several years ago, it had approved the words only earlier that year.

Source: "Ukraine celebrates 12th anniversary of independence with annual military parade," by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, August 31, 2003, Vol. LXXI, No. 35.

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