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Independence
day
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Independence
day
September 2, 2001
Dear Friends and Family,
Last weekend was the celebration of ten years of independence for Ukraine. Preparation for this celebration has disrupted the city for months, if not for a year. The main square, Independence Square, was completely torn up, thus blocking several of the main cross-town streets. At the other end of downtowns main street, Khreshchatyk, both the major cross street and a full block of the main street were torn up. The government kept promising that everything would be done by August 24th, the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's break away from the Soviet Union. Few in town thought the government would keep all promises - what government ever does. But, on the big day, things were almost done.
A few days earlier, we had checked progress at Independence Square and thought "no way". Four days later, on the 23rd, the dedication of the central monument saw things getting pretty close. Actually, the dedication itself was anything but "pretty close" if you weren't a high government official. Marianne and I went down to see what we could but almost everything was blocked off. Clearly this was not an event for the man in the street since that man, or woman, couldn't get within 100 feet of the new monument and certainly couldn't see much at all. Maybe that was because both President Kuchma and Russia's President Putin were on the speakers' podium along with the mayor, many Deputies (Congressmen), Generals, Ambassadors, etc. Just as well we didn't stay because I'll bet most of them made speeches.
Friday, the 24th was a different story. Again Marianne and I hopped our bus and went downtown. Then we discovered that a zillion other people had gotten there first, including 6,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, militia, etc. Everyone was there for the big parade. This ended up being sort of a return to the old May Day parades from the Soviet Union - speeches and displays of military hardware. The irony of the parades theme didn't seem to matter, we were there in numbers to see the show.
Because we arrived relatively late and because Khreshchatyk was impossible to cross, we ended up in a terrible photographing position. Sorry about that. We were looking into the morning sun, standing 30 feet from the street, fighting to keep our little window on the show. We waited almost an hour before the real action started. I don't count the half-hour of political speeches (in Ukrainian) as "real action".
The military display started with the sharp matching of the thousands of military personnel. They were dressed in their finest with each service in a different color. Their boots were polished and the sound of hundreds of steel taps, marching in perfect unison, gave an impressive show. One thing we noticed in this sea of spiffy uniforms was that the Ukrainian military is very young. The soldiers looked like they were late teens or early 20's. Most officers were mid-20's to mid-30's. There were a handful of old senior officers but I guess one consequence of a country with just ten years under it's belt is that, by definition, no one has more than ten years experience serving that country. Of course Ukraine inherited a sizeable portion of the Soviet armed forces but 20 and 30 year military veterans were not much in evidence on Independence Day.
But marching soldiers isn't the centerpiece. Bring on the hardware! As the soldiers marched away, we heard a rumble from down the street and a thick cloud of blue smoke. The first vehicles were truck-mounted Katusha rockets. These are the weapons that have appeared in war scenes since their invention in the Soviet Union almost 70 years ago. Today, we saw at least four different sizes of the devices from these "small" ones to much bigger ones.
And of course there were regular rockets too. But the real show were the tanks. Again, they came in several sizes but the largest were 48 ton monsters that were truly intimidating, even from our perch 30 feet away.
But this was not just a ground show. The military show included flybys of every type of plane in the Ukrainian arsenal. There were helicopters, interceptors, bombers and even a tanker simulating an in-air refueling. I'd show you pictures but I'm afraid our vantage point was particularly bad and shooting fast moving planes is difficult at best. However, the last two planes to fly by were big Antonovs. The one on the right is one of the largest freighter aircraft in the world. It's what even the US uses if they need to move something big. (For example, the spy plane that landed in China a few months back came back inside a plane like this.) The plane on the left, the one with six engines, is even bigger. This is the Antonov-225. It's not yet certified for commercial use, but Ukraine has one or two examples and they are looking for partners to pay the costs. Do you know anyone who has a billion and needs the largest plane in the world?
(By the way, the point of all this display of military hardware was not to intimidate Ukraine's neighbors or old foes from the Cold War. This was a marketing show. Ukraine wants to sell some of the old Soviet-era equipment. Some of the new stuff, like the 48-ton T-84 tank and the Antonov aircraft are modern, in production - or almost so - and available for a price. If you know anyone who has a need, ....)
After the military, there were more normal parts of an Independence Day parade. Cossack's on horse, beauties on floats, costumed kids and even marching bands tried to follow the big military display. The crowd however, after two or three hours in the sun, wandered away. We left too.
Take care and don't worry about an invasion from Ukraine, despite the show of might and muscle. Remember, it was a commercial.
Regards,
John and Marianne
P.S. We include a close up of the "angel" on top of the monument in Independence Square. We are still reserving judgement about it, but it will be here if you care to visit and you can have your own opinion
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