Photo: Anna Chystiakova
Ukrainians celebrate the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 6 December, amid the rising concerns of possible Russian intervention. Lviv is holding ceremonial events to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing the military, as on this day 30 years ago, days after Ukraine voted in a referendum to be independent of the Soviet Union, the rada (parliament) passed the Law «On the Armed Forces of Ukraine».
In particular, the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine started at 10 o’clock on the field of honorary burials № 76 at Lychakiv Cemetery (Vakhnianyna Street). At 11:00 a Hierarch’s Divine Liturgy (Greek Catholic) was held on this occasion in the Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
Together with the cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, and Kramatorsk, Lviv will join the all-Ukrainian celebrational teleconference, which citizens can attend in the square near the National Academy of Land Forces named after Hetman Petro Sahaidachny. Serhii Shaptala, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will take part in the event. According to the Ministry of Defence, the teleconference will broadcast the demonstrations of the latest models of weapons and military equipment, ceremonies of awarding battle flags and honorary titles to military units, awarding servicemen with state awards. A military parade, performances of military orchasrter and other entertainment events are planned as well. The event starts at 17:50 and will be closed with a concert of a popular Ukrainian pop-rock band «SKAI» (you can listen to their songs on YouTube and Spotify). The admission is free, though the quarantine requirements and the beginning of the concert were not announced.
It should be noted that the National Bank of Ukraine, continuing the series «Armed Forces of Ukraine,» puts commemorative coins «Armed Forces of Ukraine» and «Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine» into circulation from 1 December 2021.
The challenge «30 days of gratitude,» dedicated to the anniversary, started on the internet yesterday, led by by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Lieutenant General and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Terms of participation are quite simple: participants have to choose who or what they are defending and what they would like to tell others. It can be a close person, acquaintance, home, the Ukrainian flag, a panorama of the city in which they live or serve.
Then, the participants dressed in military uniform must shoot a video, having someone who is dear to them behind them, or showing in the background another peaceful manifestation of life that they are defending. In the video, it’s important to talk about who or what they are defending, using the hashtags #ZSU30 and #PidZakhystomZSU, marking three of their colleagues, or military or civilian friends in the post, in order to pass the challenge further.
сюди вставте будь ласка відео з цієї статті https://tvoemisto.tv/news/do_30_richnytsi_zbroynyh_syl_ukrainy_v_interneti_zapustyly_fleshmob_125603.html
Read also: Ukraine celebrates the blessed virgin mary’s protection – and its defenders and defendresses
In connection with the events near the National Academy of Land Forces, Heroes of the Maidan street will be closed from 9:00 to 20:00. Street Stryiska is closed for traffic in the area from the Ivana Franka street to the Sakharova street in the period from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 22:00.
As a result, trolleybuses №25 will not run all day, while three routes №3a, №18 and №57 will bypass the streets Chmoly, Kozelnytska, Ivana Franka before entering the street Shota Rustaveli. Buses will run on this route during the day, except when the Stryiska street will be passable.
For reference
The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) established the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 1993, with the adoption of the law «On the Armed Forces of Ukraine», and it is celebrated annually on 6 December. This date also symbolically coincides with the history of Ukrainian Popular Republic (UPR) – a Ukrainian state that emerged in 1917 as a result of the demise of the Russian empire at the end of the First World War, and had to fight for its independence against Soviets, the White army (which aimed for the restoration of the Russian empire), and Poland.
It was on 6 December 1919, when the UPR’s army began the First Winter Campaign in the rear of the Russian occupational forces. Though Ukraine didn’t succeed in maintaining its statehood at that time and was finally partitioned between the Soviet Union and Russia in 1922, those efforts are especially honoured now, during the ongoing war with Russian Federation.
By Vitalii Holich
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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