Ukraine’s Independence Day saw no lavish celebrations in Russia. There were no fireworks but the Ukrainian holiday once again confirmed the drug-like dependence on Ukraine of Russian state and pro-government media. Traditionally, a competition was set up to pour as much negativity and impurity as possible on the neighboring country and its citizens within the concept of "we are one nation." Almost all the fugitives, who once had Ukrainian passports, had their say. This crowd was portrayed as the right kind of "Ukrainians" whom Moscow needs, tentatively pushing to the conclusion: the ones who fight and stand for their country are the real Nazis, fascists, and right-wingers.

They talked a lot about Kyiv's dependence on financial assistance from the IMF, “wrong” association with the EU, and "terrible" visa-free travel. All this came along with the reports about the colossal prospects of a lost future with Russia - the joint production of aircraft and spacecraft and the like. Naturally, no one cared to elaborate why these projects had not been implemented before 2014.

The address by the head of the Ukrainian state stirred some serious excitement in Russia was not praised by Russian "experts"

Russian observers and experts analyzed President Poroshenko's speech at the parade, counting how many times he mentioned the word "Russia" and the phrase "evil empire." The address by the head of the Ukrainian state stirred some serious excitement in Russia was not praised by Russian "experts." Most of indignation was caused by the words: "The dogs may be barking, the wind blowing, while our Ukrainian caravan is on its way... We have one path - a wide Euro-Atlantic highway, leading to membership in the European Union and NATO." This was the most popular piece in Russian news that day.

There was much talk about “hunger” in Ukraine. Separately, Russia focused attention on the growth of trade turnover between Ukraine and Russia as the main "proof" of the absence of Russian invasion and the war for Donbas. The argument that this is one of the indicators of the recovery of the Ukrainian economy was not accepted. The fact that the main goods from the Russian Federation coming to Ukraine are mineral fertilizers and products of the chemical industry was not clarified, while the fact that the trade turnover in Ukraine has been growing in recent months both with the EU and with China was ignored.

The Kremlin media also paid attention to Ukraine’s foreign guests at Independence Day celebrations. Russian media were full of headlines like "Parade in Ukraine taken over by the chief of Pentagon" or "NATO soldiers marched on Khreshchatyk." Such headlines made senior citizens across Russia grab their heart pills. The striking effect is the same as from PR stories about the President of the Russian Federation. Russians are indignant. How could it be that they were promised that Russian soldiers would reach Kyiv in two hours, but now NATO troops march in Kyiv and even the "Russian friend," the Turkish defense minister, is watching the parade with a smile on his face?! However, if one follows this primitive logic, then it appears that the Alliance has long conquered Russia because NATO soldiers - from the U.S., UK and France - not so long ago marched on Moscow’s Red Square. In 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the parade on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory in Moscow. According to the Russian tradition, most of Russian propaganda’s attention was paid to the presence at the Kyiv celebrations of U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (Russian journalists submissively and affectionately called him the "American Master." It seems that they have not got over the second part of "50 Shades of Gray." In every sentence of every report, it was emphasized that Mattis’s nickname is "Mad Dog." But it is unclear why the negotiations in Kyiv about possible U.S. supplies of lethal aid to the Ukrainian army caused hysterics in Moscow news. This reaction of the Russian comrades is rather strange. After all, there are no Russians in Donbas, they say. So why worry so much?

The thing Russian "brothers" were most enraged with was the marching of the Ukrainian military. Indeed, they showed that they are able to and will destroy the aggressor, no matter if they get weapons from NATO.

By the way, The thing Russian "brothers" were most enraged with was the marching of the Ukrainian military. Indeed, they showed that they are able to and will destroy the aggressor, no matter if they get weapons from NATO. Moscow’s military experts searched very carefully for flaws in the Ukrainian army – they claimed that the Ukrainian military equipment is poor and outdated, that is, not equal to Russian arms. It's funny that all these ideas are articulated by the same figures who for several years have been calling on Russians to go to Ukraine as "volunteers on vacation" to fight in the war, while claiming that there are no Russians in Donbas once any of their “volunteers” get captured by the Ukrainian military.

The aggressive neighbors may not like the Ukrainian army but, as the saying goes, it is what it is, so those who come to Ukraine with arms in their hands will definitely be killed.

Roman Tsymbaliuk, Moscow