Rada demands official investigation into who approved “march in heels”

Verkhovna Rada Vice-Speaker Olena Kondartiuk, along with other members of parliament, made a public appeal to conduct an official investigation into who decided on "march in heels."

ZN.UA informs, Rubryka reports.

"Holding a military parade on the 30th anniversary of our independence, where military women must walk in heels. We saw this mad trash, sorry, on the website of the Ministry of Defense… Consider it our open request to conduct an official investigation and report to the public who made such a decision, how much money was spent on the purchase of these shoes from our taxes, and who will be financially responsible for it. Publicly apologize for such humiliation of women in their army and veterans who defend and continue to defend the independence and sovereignty of our country with weapons in hand," Kondratiuk stated this from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada.

Later, Iryna Herashchenko reported on Telegram: "Deputies of the European Solidarity party presented Defense Minister Taran and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Zelenskyi with heels. Let them wear the shoes to the parade!"

Politicians, bloggers, and Ukrainians criticize the "parade in heels," noting that the event is turning into a farce and clowning.

Iryna Herashchenko, a member of the European Solidarity Party, called the initiative a humiliation of women in service and said that "the leadership of the Ministry of Defense is not friendly with logic."

"It never occurred to me that the minister, instead of solving problems, would think of heels at the parade. On hot asphalt… This is not equality. This is a humiliation," she wrote on Facebook.

Her faction colleague Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze added that she was "shocked by the information that women will be wearing high heels at the Independence Day parade."

"What is this anyway? Are we building a NATO army or a sexist Soviet reserve? Don't the Ministry of Defense know girls wear combat boots during the war?" she pointed out.

"Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, what is the new form? Are we taking such a decisive step towards NATO?" activist Oleksii Tsymbaliuk wrote on Facebook.

Media manager and journalist Anhelina Kariakina sarcastically commented on the idea of the Ministry of Defense: "The parade is, to put it mildly, not about the comfort of the military. But if it's so beautiful, who else in heels will we see at the parade?"

The politician and volunteer Oleksandr Pohrebyskyi declared that the Ministry of Defense "decided to make fun of girls" this year.

"The Ministry of Defense 'boasted' a photo of preparations for the parade. Goose-stepping in heels to… do what? Will this parade of idiocy ever end?" Alina Shpak, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, was indignant.

"It's very similar to the ceremonial practice of totalitarian countries such as China," a Ukrainian journalist, former politician, and People's Deputy Yevhen Leshan wrote.

As reported by Rubryka, the Ministry of Defense published news about the training of cadets of the Military Institute of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, who are mastering a new marching step in heels.

What's wrong with this training was explained by the famous veteran Maria Berlinska. It should be noted that in the comments to her post it is mentioned such shoes are part of the formal clothes under the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs 606 of 20.11.2017.

At the last parade, the girls were in casual clothes and with weapons, and this year they will walk in parade uniform, without weapons, in high-heeled shoes.

They also changed the height of the step: before the leg had to rise from the ground by 15-20 centimeters, now, by 10-15 cm.

The cadets have been training for the parade for a month now and admit that "high-heeled shoes are" a little heavier than combat boots."