France will celebrate the Bastille Day with the traditional military parade on the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris, under the motto "Share the Flame," meant to evoke the resistance during World War II and call for unity in the face of current crises.
According to the Élysée, the slogan also aims to show how France is quickly responding in solidarity to the current global challenges, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Military officers from Eastern European countries were also invited as special participants.
Around 6,300 military personnel and members of the security apparatus are expected to take part in Thursday's parade on foot, by plane, in carriages and riding on horses.
Marching guest soldiers from the Baltic states, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia will open the parade at 10 am (0800 GMT).
On the national holiday, also known as French National Day, the country remembers to the storming of the Bastille in 1789, which is seen as the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution.
