Ukrainian Troops Join VE-Day Parade in London

May 6 ------ A Ukrainian military contingent joined British troops in a parade in central London commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Allies’ WWII Victory in Europe (VE Day). The parade is part of the UK’s four-day program marking the end of WWII in Europe in 1945, which is celebrated by most European nations on May 8 whereas Russia celebrates the day on May 9 in line with the Soviet Union’s tradition.

A photo published by AFP showed Ukraine being represented by a small group of 11 soldiers, who are in the UK for training under Operation Interflex, led by a flagbearer carrying the Ukrainian flag. Crowds lined the streets in central London on Monday as British troops, joined by the small Ukrainian contingent and other allied forces, marched past Buckingham Palace, where the British royal family sat in watch. The march was accompanied by modern military jets and WWII-era planes flying overhead.

A British Ministry of Defense spokesperson said Ukraine’s participation symbolizes the “continued fight for freedom against Russia’s unprovoked, illegal invasion,” according to the BBC. The political undertone of the march came as Britain and Russia, who fought on the same side of WWII, are holding different celebrations as Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its third year.

On Friday, May 9, Moscow is set to host a grand display of troops and equipment many of whom took part in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory of what it calls the Great Patriotic War. As far as the Soviet Union (and now Russia) is concerned that war only began in 1941 with the German Nazi invasion of the USSR, “Operation Barbarossa,” which was perhaps ironically launched through what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and the three Baltic States. The war for the rest of Europe had begun in 1939. Russia has repeatedly tried to justify its war with Ukraine as a continuation of its fight against Nazism portraying the democratically elected Kyiv government as “neo-Nazis.”

Foreign leaders expected to attend the Moscow parade include Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is expected to be the only European leader in attendance after reports that the Serbian and Slovakian leaders pulled out due to illness.

Source: kyivpost.com