Ukraine has all the necessary preconditions to create highly professional army. This was stressed by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn during his speech on the occasion of the festivities dedicated to the Tank Man Day and the 71st anniversary of the mechanized brigade No.30 in Novohrad Volynsk (Zhytomyr Region).
"It is a great honor to me to stay today here with you and greet you with professional holiday on behalf of the President of Ukraine, the Prime Minister of Ukraine and on my own," V.Lytvyn said.
"The country needs modern, maneuverable, armed with the latest technology Armed Forces. People in uniform are and will be the spine of the state. They are the base of patriotic work, without which the state cannot exist," he stressed.
V.Lytvyn noted that today "the world is becoming multipolar and global players make arrangements between themselves". Such arrangements and compromises cannot be reached at the cost of other countries, Ukraine in particular. "Our state has great potential and cannot be an object of international policy. It should be its subject. And this is possible under the condition of effective Armed Forces," he said.
The Chairman of the Parliament noted that Ukraine?s stability and predictability is a precondition to create highly professional mobile army. V.Lytvyn stressed the necessity to abandon conscription for military service for a regular term, saying that contract military service should provide a range of incentives and encouragements.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada drew attention to the necessity of respect for history. "Ukraine needs to preserve memory because new generations deprived of history, are coming to adult life. Nobody has the right to rewrite history," he said. The Chairman stressed that special attention should be paid to the veterans of Armed Forces who, according to him, are the bearers of "patriotism and living history".
V.Lytvyn stressed that Tank Man Day "is and will be needed as it gives the possibility to bow to the memory of those people who stood at the origins of unit creation, sacrificed themselves to defend the Motherland". "That war was won by people, technology and the fighting spirit. Such a country can never be defeated," he said, reminding that 1200 tank man became the Heroes of the Soviet Union, 16 of them twice. And today mechanized brigade No.30 proves its state of being relevant by participation in peacekeeping operations in different countries.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine presented the best military men of the brigade with the awards of the Ministry of Defence.