PARIS (AP) — The war in Ukraine has even shaken up Bastille Day, a powerful political, historical and symbolic event in France.
France celebrated its national holiday Thursday with thousands of French troops marching down the Champs-Elysees avenue alongside allies from Eastern Europe. The traditional parade also featured warplanes, military vehicles and a drone in a performance showing off France’s might and its military efforts to support Ukraine.
The opening of this year’s Bastille Day parade was designed to demonstrate France’s commitment to NATO and to European allies touched most closely by the war in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 20 weeks ago.
Troops from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary were assigned the front position, bearing their national flags. Multinational troops deployed in Romania after the invasion marched after them.
Higher-than-usual temperatures baking Paris this week didn’t deter crowds from gathering to watch the parade, surrounded by tight security along the Champs-Elysees.
A group of young people from France’s universal national service program stood up and applauded as the parade got underway, visibly thrilled to be watching the event in person. A fighter jet flyover wowed the crowd, especially the opening formation that trailed red, white and blue smoke over the Arc de Triomphe.
On the eve of Bastille Day, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Ukraine’s unexpected ability to stand up to Russia’s aggression. He called for a review of France’s military organization to make it more nimble in the face of changing threats, as well as for a “rethink” of France’s military presence in Africa.
“Each and every one of us was struck by the Ukrainian nation’s moral strength that allowed it to hold on despite an initially unfavorable balance of power,” Macron told French military brass Wednesday night.
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A Reaper, a sophisticated American combat drone, swooped over the parade for the first time. Such a drone embodies the modernization of France’s military equipment, and was used in Niger and elsewhere in Africa’s Sahel region as part of France’s military operation to defeat jihadists. Drones are also a powerful symbol of the Ukraine war, where they’re being used more intensively than any other war to date.
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The traditional parade for Bastille Day in Paris featured warplanes, military vehicles and a drone in a performance showing off France’s might and its military efforts to support Ukraine. https://t.co/FRF7jNhspz
— The Hill (@thehill) July 14, 2022
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