Translated material
With NATO and Maksakova
Ukraine on August 26 celebrated Independence Day for the 26th time. In Kyiv, a military parade was held, in which units from NATO countries took part for the first time, and one of his foreign guests was the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
The Security Service of Ukraine the day before warned of possible provocations on August 24. The head of the SBU Vasily Gritsak said that his department has a "large number of documents" indicating the desire of enemies of Ukraine to disrupt the celebration of Independence Day. For this reason, additional units of police and National Guard - more than five thousand law enforcement officers were involved in the protection of public order in the center of Kyiv. Nevertheless, sad incidents could not be avoided. In the afternoon, an explosion between the Cabinet of Ministers and the Dynamo Stadium on Grushevsky Street thundered. As a result, a man and two women were injured. According to the media, the victims are relatives of the Hero of Ukraine Valery Chibineev- his wife, mother-in-law and previously fought at the Donetsk airport family of the family (Chibinese- the commander of a company of snipers of the 79th separate landing brigade of the airborne assault troops, the Hero of Ukraine received the title in August 2016). It is assumed that the explosion occurred at the moment when unknown people from the Mariinsky Park threw an explosion packet on the passing car of the Azerbaijan Embassy. The SBU first said that hooliganism was considered as the main version of what happened. The police later announced that the criminal proceedings under the article “attempt on intentional murder” were investigated, and the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Alexander Turchinov, did not rule out that we are talking about a planned terrorist attack.
The key to the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine was a military parade. Speaking before his independence began, the head of state Petro Poroshenko said that Ukraine has one road - “a wide Euro -Atlantic Autoban, which leads to membership in the European Union and NATO,” and warned that Ukraine was ready to give a tough military rebuff if Russia goes on the offensive.
Four and a half thousand military personnel, including veterans and participants in the hostilities in the Donbass, passed the march in Khreshchaty from Bessarabian to European square. Among the banners, a group stood out in a new ceremonial form with combat flags of the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic operating one hundred years ago.
This year, military equipment was not involved during the parade. The latest tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and missile systems are presented at the exhibition “The Force of the Unconquered” in the center of Kyiv, designed to demonstrate how powerful the Ukrainian army has become over the past three years.
For the first time, ten foreign units participated in the parade. Next to the Ukrainian military on the main street of the capital, more than two hundred fighters of the army of Georgia, Moldova and eight countries of NATO were marked: the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
According to at least 90 percent of citizens and now voted in the new referendum for Independence of Ukraine, and the country's entry into the NATO, as the latest KMIS data, would support 56 percent of Ukrainians , and now 56 percent of Ukrainians would have voted at least 90 percent of Ukrainians.
The statement of the Ukrainian authorities and the participation of NATO divisions in the parade is another evidence that Kyiv, despite the opposition of the Kremlin, intends to persistently seek entry into the alliance. The Verkhovna Rada in June again legally secured Ukraine’s course on NATO membership. He was canceled in 2010, after Viktor Yanukovych became president, who fled after Euromaidan to Russia.
The speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Parubiy believes that Ukraine can become a member of NATO until 2020. At the same time, the ex-minister of foreign affairs, the parliament deputy Boris Tarasuk believes that Ukraine will be able to count on membership in the alliance only after the liberation of the Crimea and the settlement of the situation in the Donbass, since, according to one of the criteria of the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty, the Candidate country should not have territorial problems and conflicts. Military expert Sergei Grabsky does not share the position of either Parubiy or Tarasuka:
It is necessary to make sure that no potential Yanukovych could cancel our progressive movement towards NATO
- I cannot agree with such promising plans of the head of the Verkhovna Rada and also cannot agree with the position of Boris Tarasyuk. NATO is not only a military, but more political organization. And in order to comply with its criteria, it is necessary to do a huge work to bring the political, economic situation in Ukraine at least to the initial standards of NATO. We need to make sure that the democratic foundations of our country are already irreversible and no potential Yanukovych, who can come to power in Ukraine by absolutely legal elections, could not radically change the situation and cancel our progressive movement towards NATO. Therefore, during the organization of society, in my opinion, the country may claim NATO membership no earlier than 7-8 years later. We have a huge, painstaking work to change almost the entire army. In fact, we must build our army destroyed during the presidency of Yanukovych from scratch.
-In the period from 2000 to 2008, Ukraine was twice close to obtaining an action plan to join NATO, but in April 2008, at the NATO Bucharest Summit, so as not to annoy Moscow, Germany and France blocked such plans of Kiev. The Kremlin continues to declare that NATO is approaching the Russian borders, and what do you think, what is the real reason for the opposition of Russia to the plans of Ukraine and Georgia to join the North Atlantic Union?
Moscow did everything so that NATO approached the Russian borders
-Firstly, although Moscow has always stated that she was opposed to NATO, she did everything to make NATO approach the Russian borders. And now we see the units of the alliance directly near the borders of the Russian Federation, namely in the Baltic countries. Why is Russia categorically against Ukraine, Georgia and other countries join the North Atlantic Union? Because she sees Ukraine and Georgia in the zone of its exceptional interests and, we will frankly speak, state education with the center in Moscow, which has borders with Ukraine, by Georgia, under any conditions, under any government, will not go to exclude these countries from the sphere of its priority interests. Ukraine’s entry into NATO will mean for the Russian imperial model its collapse. I am absolutely sure that Russia will take all the steps available and inaccessible in order to make Ukraine joining NATO, up to the escalation of the conflict in the east of our country. In general, the whole history of Russia was associated with the accession of other lands and the expansion of the zone of its influence. And of course, if Ukraine had not been stopped on the way to NATO, when we came close to this in 2006, and if the US and the EU had not made such a tragic mistake at that time, not allowing Ukraine to join NATO, we would now not have those deaths and the catastrophic consequences of the occupation and the annexations that we have today.
- Do you agree with the experts who, commenting on the visit of the US Minister of Defense James Mattis to Kiev, say that for the first time, Ukraine is close to getting American lethal weapons to protect against Russian aggression in the east of the country?
- This time the chances are really quite significant. We see that Moscow is not taking any steps to weaken its aggressive policy in the east of Ukraine and continues to pull its troops not only to our borders, but also to the EU borders. We are well aware that when the situation in the current vein is more likely, the military decision of the conflict becomes more likely. Our Western allies also understand this, they understand that the only opportunity to stop aggression is to make Ukraine a strong one, able to protect itself from further encroachments in the enemy. And such messages already sounded in the speeches of Western and American politicians, therefore, for me, the situation with the provision of Ukraine anti-tank, airfields, some elements for the Ukrainian Navy-small ships-absolutely obvious, ”said military expert Sergei Grabsky.
Among the foreign guests, the leaders of the military departments of nine NATO countries also watched the parade in Khreshchatyk. Among them is the US Minister of Defense James Mattis. At a press conference, after negotiations with Poroshenko, the head of the Pentagon noted that the issue of providing Kyiv of lethal weapons is considered, and assured Washington’s readiness to help resolve the conflict in the Donbass diplomatic means. Together with Mattis, the US special representative of the United States, Kurt Walker, who was discussing the prospects for resolving the conflict in the Ukrainian East with assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov in Minsk, also arrived in Kiev in Kyiv. Anna Shelest is discussing the results of the Kiev visit of the head of the Pentagon.
We know how the American government loves such symbolic gestures in its diplomatic practice
- The US Minister of Defense for the first time in ten years visited Ukraine, and it was no coincidence that his visit coincided with the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine, when American soldiers participated in the Parade on Khreshchatyk along with the military from other NATO countries. This is a big symbolic gesture. We know how the American government loves such symbolic gestures in its diplomatic practice. They show both the strategic choice of a partner, and the willingness to maintain independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of our state. If we talk about the practical side of the visit, then it is also very important and designed to demonstrate what financial, technical and consulting support the United States provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Mattis called in Kyiv an amount of $ 750 million, which have been spent in recent years on military-technical assistance to Ukraine, and that it was decided to allocate another $ 175 million for the purchase of uniforms and all that is necessary to reform the Ukrainian army. Speaking about the support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the head of the Pentagon made it clear that the United States was remembered by its obligations to us, including the Budapest memorandum from 1994 (according to the memorandum, the USA, the UK and Russia guaranteed the immunity of borders in exchange for its rejection of the third nuclear potential in the world of the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union), and other documents. It is also important that Mattis arrived in Kyiv along with Volker, who was in the Donbass and saw a real picture there and then made a fairly tough statement (named, in particular, what was happening in the Donbass not frozen conflict, but hot war). Now in Washington they continue to discuss the issue of whether or not to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, and the final decision of the White House will largely depend on the position of the head of the military department, ”Anna Shelestu is convinced.
And although James Mattis did not bring Ukraine a gift for Independence Day as news of the provision of lethal weapons, such a probability after negotiations with the Ukrainian leadership increased significantly. The Armed Forces of Ukraine expects that the legendary Javelin anti -tank missiles, small arms and ammunition can get from the United States. Kyiv emphasizes that over almost 3.5 years of hostilities, Russia increased the supply of tanks and armored vehicles, anti -aircraft missiles and anti -tank weapons to the occupied part of the Donbass by more than 10 times.
On the Central Square of the country on the evening of August 24, a joint concert "Maidan of Unity" was held with the participation of more than 100 musicians of two orchestras-the Ukrainian National Presidential and Airborne Forces of the United States in Europe. Ukrainian, American and European hits sounded from the stage, as well as several works specially written for the holiday for the text of the poet Dmitry Lazutkin by composer Ivan Taranenko. One of the raisins of a unique concert was a performance The opera singer, the widow of the ex-deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Denis Voronenkov Maria Maksakova, who was killed in March this year in Kyiv.
With the filing of the Russian media on the eve of the social networks, a loud scandal erupted. Many were outraged because of the news that the anthem of Ukraine at the celebrations would allegedly fulfill Maksakova, who was a deputy of the Russian State Duma and in 2014 cast his vote for the annexation of Crimea. Reacting to the scandal, Maksakova wrote on Facebook: “Dear Ukrainians! I am proud that on Independence Day I will have the honor of singing the oratorio“ Glory, Ukraine! ” And the Kavatin from the opera Bellini “Norm”. Indeed, Maksakova, appearing in front of the audience of the Maidan in the embroidered shirt, sang the works she had previously previously. The concert was also participated in the contrast between Yuri Minenko and the Ukrainian pianist from New York Pavel Gintov.
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0:00 0:01:43 Download the media fileDuring the execution of national hymns, a combined orchestra Alternately, either Ukrainian or American conductors ruled. It was a symbol of unity, said to reporters after the concert, US Colonel Donald Scofield. He called the conducting the Ukrainian anthem the largest gift in his creative life. The benefit of the Ukrainian-American military on the Maidan was broadcast, as the Minister of Culture Yevgeny Nishchuk said, more than 150 world television channels.