Ukrainian Soldiers March at National Day in Paris

Paris – 14.07.2026: Twenty-five soldiers from the Ukrainian Presidential Guard took part in the military parade on the Champs-Elysees on the French National Day. They marched as part of the Coalition of the Willing formation, whose delegations shaped the opening of the parade. President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched the ceremony in Paris.

The presence of the Ukrainian unit gave the traditional parade an exceptionally direct political significance. France placed the 2026 edition under the guiding principle of a European Union and its partners with greater strategic capacity to act. The military representation was intended not merely to signal solidarity with Kyiv, but also to demonstrate Europe’s willingness to assume greater responsibility for the security of the continent.

According to the Ministry of Defence, delegations from 35 states in the Coalition of the Willing were represented. Around 500 foreign soldiers opened the parade, followed by the 25 Ukrainian service members. In addition to European states, Canada, Australia and Japan also took part. The ministry had announced more than 6,000 marching soldiers and 36 foreign nations for the entire parade.

The Coalition of the Willing is a political initiative backed by France and the United Kingdom. Its aim is to organize security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire while continuing support for the Ukrainian armed forces. According to the French description, the focus is on restoring Ukraine’s military capabilities as well as possible safeguards on land, in the air and at sea.

The parade was preceded by a meeting of the coalition’s heads of state and government in Paris on 13.07.2026. Zelenskyy attended as a guest. The meeting focused on coordinating European pledges of support and on the question of how a lasting peace settlement could be secured against renewed Russian aggression. Specific deployment decisions for foreign troops in Ukraine were not the subject of the parade.

For Macron, the national holiday was thus visibly linked to France’s security policy reorientation. Although the parade remained a ceremony of the French armed forces, the foreign contingents gave it a European dimension. The Ukrainian Presidential Guard stood at the end of this international block, embodying at the same time its country’s ongoing defensive war against the Russian invasion.

The symbolism is also institutionally significant: France demonstrated the connection between national defense, European deterrence and support for an attacked partner. Whether the coalition can develop reliable security structures from this, however, depends on political decisions by its member states, long-term military funding and the further course of the war.