Largest military parade under Macron – Ukraine in focus

French national holiday

Largest military parade under Macron – Ukraine in focus

French President Macron is hosting the most extensive military parade of his term in office. With their participation, Chancellor Merz and other guests are sending a sign of support for Ukraine.

Long columns of soldiers, armored vehicles and military aircraft, at the head of which the “Patrouille de France” aerobatic team draws contrails in the French national colors of blue, white and red into the sky: with his last military parade on the French national day at the end of his second term in office, President Emmanuel Macron want to emphasize “the strategic rearmament of France” and “the strategic awakening of Europe”. In particular, the military parade sent a powerful signal of support Ukraine.

At the head of the parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris marched 500 soldiers from member countries of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which represents the of Russia support the country under attack, including troops from Germany. 25 Ukrainian soldiers also marched along the boulevard. And the aerobatic team was accompanied by two Mirage fighter jets with a French-Ukrainian crew. Jets of this type had Paris provided to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president lived in the official gallery Volodymyr Zelensky took part in the parade, standing shoulder to shoulder with around 30 other heads of state and government from the Coalition of the Willing and the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Also Chancellor Friedrich Merz was one of the guests of honor, most recently in 2019 being the then Chancellor Angela Merkel at the parade in Paris. France On the national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789, which is seen as the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution.

However, the support for Ukraine in Paris was not limited to the military display at the parade: the evening before, France and Great Britain led Coalition of the Willing reaffirmed its willingness to provide further military support to Ukraine at a meeting in the French capital. In addition to promising further arms deliveries and cooperation on missile defense, Macron surprisingly announced the first joint maneuvers by the multinational protection force, with which the coalition wants to secure a possible ceasefire and peace agreement in Ukraine.

As Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Paris, these military maneuvers are scheduled to take place this fall Poland take place. Troops from France, Great Britain and Poland are involved. The exercises were intended to prepare the coalition for “concrete security guarantees for Ukraine, but also for the region,” said Tusk, according to the PAP news agency.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said his country was also ready for a permanent deployment of troops from France and Britain. “If we take more responsibility for the NATO eastern border, then those who live far away from it will come to Poland,” he said, according to PAP Warsaw.