“We will honor the defenders of our Fatherland, not someone else’s”.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated Ukraine will never again commemorate February 23 as “Day of the Defender of the Fatherland”. He made this announcement on the Maidan square during Independence Day celebrations:
“The phrase ‘Defender of the Fatherland’ has ceased to be a mere abstract and ritualistic expression. Now it has acquired a concrete significance… In the rich and varied history of Ukrainian armies, there are countless battles and dates worthy of being elevated to a Day of the Defender of the Fatherland. I repeat: Ukraine will never again commemorate this holiday by following a historical battles calendar of a neighboring country. We will honor defenders of our Fatherland, not a foreign country’s!”
“The events of the past months have become for us a very real, although undeclared, war. Perhaps it will enter the history books as the 2014 War for the Fatherland – a war against foreign aggression, a war to defend Ukraine, its freedoms, its honor and glory, its peoples, its independence”.
It is to be noted that a military parade took place in Kyiv. All vehicles and equipment then immediately moved out for the Anti Terror Operations zone.
[hr]Source: http://tvi.ua/news translated by Adrian Bryttan