site.bta700-Plus Servicepersons to Participate in Day of Valour and Armed Forces Parade on May 6

The Feast Day of St George, which is celebrated as a Day of Valour and of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, will be marked in central Sofia on May 6 by a blessing of the colours and with a military parade, the Ministry of Defence press service reported. The parade will feature more than 700 servicepersons from the National Guards Unit of Bulgaria, the Land Forces, 2nd Tundzha Mechanized Brigade, Air Force, Navy, 68th Special Forces Brigade, Vasil Levski National Military University, and Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy.

The observance will start at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier at 9 a.m. with a traditional blessing of the military colours. A ceremonial change of the guard of honour will take place in front of the President's administration at noon.

Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov, Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov, senior officers of the Bulgarian Armed Forces will participate in the rituals on the occasion of the celebration. Invited to attend are the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, representatives of the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, the Diplomatic Corps, military unions.

On the night before the celebration, festive fireworks will fill the sky above Sofia.

As part of the preparations for the parade, helicopters of the Air Force will perform low-altitude flyovers above Sofia's Prince Alexander of Battenberg Square on May 4 between 10 and 10:30 a.m., on 5 May between 10:30 and 11 a.m., potentially between 4 and 4:30 p.m., and on May 6 between 10:20 and 11 a.m. For safety reasons, it is undesirable to pilot drones during these time frames.