Ukrainian Independence Day Parade with NATO soldiers: Russia says Ukraine has lost its sovereignty
The parade in honor of the 26th anniversary of independence in Kyiv, which featured soldiers from NATO states, is evidence that Ukraine has lost its sovereignty and has become an externally governed territory, said Irina Yarovaya, Deputy Chairperson of the Russian State Duma.
“It seems that the NATO procession symbolizes their personal contribution to the special operation “Maidan” with an anti-constitutional coup d’état in Ukraine. All that is happening illustrates the already overcrowded chronicle of Ukraine’s loss of sovereignty and transformation into an externally governed territory,” Yarovaya said, as cited by her press service.
The deputy said that the invasion of “NATO and company” began much earlier, and that “the seeds of Russophobia, ignorance and disrespect for the common ancestor history, ignorance and nationalism” had already been artificially sown and cultivated in Ukraine.
“The Donbas did not succumb to such a policy of self-destruction. The question of whether parade processions will be converted into aggressive everyday life is, unfortunately, rhetorical,” Yarovaya concluded.
In Kyiv on August 24 there was a military parade for the Day of Independence. Military personnel of all kinds from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and ally states took part in the parade. Notably, the parade involved soldiers from Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Georgia, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, a total of 231 soldiers.
Defense Ministers from nine countries and one deputy minister of defense also came to the parade. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis also took part in the commemorative event.