Ukraine put on a display of military might to celebrate its independence day Sunday. Tanks, missile launching vehicles, armored personnel carriers and soldier corps filed through Kiev.
Many of them will soon deploy to the conflict zone in the country's east to fight a pro-Russian insurgency, reports GHN based on CNN.
Ukraine declared its independence in 1991 from the Russian-dominated Soviet Union during its dissolution.
After bloody street protests led to Kiev distancing itself more starkly from Moscow this year, Russia invaded and annexed the peninsula of Crimea. And the pro-Russian insurgency began.
In eastern Ukraine's rebel held territories, there are to be counter demonstrations to Sunday's independence day parade by many who long for bygone Soviet area times.
An announcement on a rebel social media account pronounced that rebels would include damaged Ukrainian military equipment in its parade in Donetsk as well as "hostages ... like they did with the Germans in Moscow."
Rebels are calling the parade at Lenin Square an "anti-fascist rally."
Five people were killed in the fighting on Saturday and Sunday in the Donetsk region, its official press service said.
Poroshenko: More military funding
Ukraine is fighting against foreign aggression, President Petro Poroshenko said in a commemoration speech.
"Events of the last months have become -- though undeclared -- real war," he said. And it is coming from a part of the world Ukraine traditionally would not have expected, he said with reference to Russia.
Poroshenko spoke from the Maidan -- Kiev's Independence Square -- where protesters had railed against his pro-Russian predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, whom they drove from office.
Sunday's show of military might, reminiscent of Soviet-era parades, stands in stark contrast to the lack of funding for the country's military.
But Poroshenko vowed in his speech that Kiev will bulk up military funding by around $3 billion over the next three years to purchase military aircraft, helicopters and warships.