Donetsk to hold Victory Day military parade on May 9th
The leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, said that this time more military equipment will take part in the parade.
On Wednesday, RIA Novosti quoted Zakharchenko as saying that the parade on the Victory Day of the Great Patriotic War will be held in Donetsk and restored military vehicles from the 1940s will participate. "This will be the usual parade of our technology... We have restored several pieces of equipment that participated in the liberation of our region. The number of troops will be bigger than last year, because the military units have increased," he said.
Earlier today, the members of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk warned the representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that a parade of military equipment in Donetsk on May 9th would be a direct and flagrant violation of the Minsk Agreements.
Daria Olifer, Press-Secretary of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group, said that "On the eve of the May 9th celebrations we warn representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions: conducting a so-called parade of military equipment in Donetsk will be a direct and flagrant violation of the Minsk Agreements." Olifer broke the news on her social network page after the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Wednesday.
Olifer stressed that in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, all weapons should be withdrawn from the line of contact to places of permanent deployment. "And this withdrawal must be confirmed by the members of the OSCE SMM," she noted.
A year ago on May 9th, approximately 30 units of military equipment were brought out on parade the main street of Donetsk.