Gallery: Estonia's annual Victory Day parade returns to Narva

On June 23, Estonia celebrates Victory Day – commemorating the key victory in the Battle of Võnnu in 1919 – with a parade held in a different city each year. This year, for the first time since 1996, the parade returned to the northeastern border city of Narva, where President Alar Karis handed the Victory Day flame over to members of volunteer defense organizations.
The Victory Day flame, handed over to them by the president at Sunday morning's parade, will be carried in turn and delivered by members of the volunteer Estonian Defense League (Kaitseliit, KL) and Women's Voluntary Defense Organization (Naiskodukaitse, NKK) to their respective counties across Estonia.
Lined up in Peter's Square on Sunday were members of the KL, the NKK and the youth organizations Home Daughters (Kodutütred) and Young Eagles (Noored Kotkad) from the Northeastern Territorial Defense Region, as well as fighters from the territorial defense region's sniper group and assault group.
Also participating in the parade were color guards of the Estonian Defense League School, the Cyber Defense Unit and the Guard Unit.
This year's torchbearers are the KL's top sharpshooters. The KL's Cyber Defense Unit also took the Victory Day flame online, where it can be seen from all over the world.
Units and representatives of the KL were likewise joined by partners from the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), the Estonian Prison Service, the Rescue Board as well as the Estonian Voluntary Rescue Association, as well as allies from Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Poland, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Sweden.
Music was provided by three ensembles – the Pärnu County District Orchestra, the Joint Orchestra of the Tallinn and Jõgeva Districts and the Estonian Military Orchestra of the Estonian War Museum. Also participating was the bagpipe unit of the KL's Sakala District.

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Editor: Mari Peegel, Aili Vahtla