You're reading: Ukraine shows off military power at arms fair in central Kyiv

Up to 70 fearsome weapons systems were deployed in central Kyiv on Aug. 22 – but not because the capital was under any threat.

The weapons were on display for the “Might of the Undefeated” arms fair, which is being held just before the country’s Independence Day.

Along part of the capital’s main thoroughfare, Khreschatyk Street, between Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Evropeiska squares, Ukrainian servicemen showed off the heavy weapons used by the nation’s army, National Guards and State Border Service, including armored vehicles, missile and rocket artillery, and anti-aircraft systems.

Ukraine’s forces presented both modernized Soviet-era weaponry produced between the 1960s and the 1980s, which still constitute the core of the country’s military power, as well as the country’s more modern developments.

Most of the heavy weapons presented were deployed by Ukraine’s armed forces in the Donbas war zone in 2014. All weapons with a caliber exceeding 100 millimeters must now be withdrawn 15 kilometers away from the front line, according to the Minsk II agreement.

All of the basic types of tanks now operated by the armed forces were on show, including the Soviet-era T-64BV, the most commonly used tank in the war in Donbas, and its enhanced and modernized Ukrainian version, the T-64BM Bulat, which Also saw combat in 2014-2015.

A girl stands at a machine gun slot attached to a Strela anti-aircraft missile unit during the arms fair in Kyiv on August 22.

A girl stands at a machine gun position attached to a Strela anti-aircraft missile unit during the arms fair in Kyiv on Aug. 22. (Volodymyr Petrov)

Also on display was a more modern T-80 tank, operated since the 1970s, as well as the advanced export-oriented BM Oplot main battle tank, a new Ukrainian development produced by Kharkiv Armored Plant. It is considered by many experts as one of the world’s most powerful and best-protected tanks.

The Kyiv Armored Plant also presented its newest version of the T-72A tank – the T-72AMT. The new version of the tank has Nizh enhanced reactive armor protection, modernized optical systems, and satellite navigation and communications.

Soviet BMP-1 and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, a basic armament for Ukraine’s motorized infantry, as well as modern-made BTR-4 and BTR-3 personnel carriers, produced for the army and exported to Iraq and Indonesia, were also on show.

As well as armored vehicles, Ukraine’s military presented its most common types of artillery, including the 122-millimeter D-30 or 152-millimeter Msta-B towed guns, as well as 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer – all widely used by both the Ukrainian army and Russian-led forces in the war in the Donbas.

A punk-looking visitor goes along the weapons exposed in the Khreshatyk street in Kyiv on Aug. 22.

A visitor looks at the weapons presented on Khreshatyk Street in Kyiv on Aug. 22. (Volodymyr Petrov)

Although air power has not been used on the eastern front since the summer of 2014, Ukraine also displays its anti-aircraft arsenal, powerful though seriously outdated, consisting of the S-300 unit, as well as other Soviet surface-to-air missile systems from the 1970s, such as the Tor and now infamous Buk system – the one that Dutch investigators have concluded brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on July 21, 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to attend the arms fair on Aug. 23, during celebrations of Ukraine’s National Flag Day.