A 15-year-old rebel commander (middle) sits in a vehicle during a parade on August 2 in Donetsk, Ukraine. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Pro-Moscow rebel fighters in their stronghold city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, celebrated Paratroopers' Day with an armed parade on Saturday, amid a raging war with the Ukrainian army.

The annual holiday has been celebrated since the Soviet era when a paratrooper subdivision of 12 soldiers landed near Voronezh, Russia on August 2, 1930. Both active and retired paratroopers join in the celebrations, which include a parade, alcohol and jumping into fountains.

On Saturday morning, a fleet of around a dozen armored vehicles, jeeps and trucks of  the Donetsk People's Republic paraded the city to the sounds of Soviet-era patriotic songs and car horns.

Flags, including those of the Soviet Airborne Troops and Russia, flew high on the vehicles. One of the trucks carried a banner seeking recruits for the Patriotic Forces of Donbass, one of the rebel movements.

Rebel fighters, some dressed in camouflage fatigues and others in striped shirts and blue berets, the signature outfit for Soviet paratroopers, rode on the vehicles. They fired shots into the air, laughed and waved to pedestrians.

The fleet arrived at Lenin Comsomol Park in the northern part of the city, where a Monument to Liberators of Donbass stands to commemorate the armed forces that liberated the region during World War II.

A senior ex-paratrooper in a blue beret, who had his right arm in a plaster cast, carried a bouquet of white roses as he led the fighters to the monument.

Appearing to be in his 50s or 60s, the man had more than a dozen medals pinned to his chest, including one from the Soviet Union's invasion in Afghanistan.

After laying the bouquet in front of the monument, the rebel fighters headed to a hospital in central Donetsk to visit those injured in the ongoing conflict with the Ukrainian army.

The parade was so jubilant that the fighters, who usually adhere to a no-camera rule, encouraged photographers to take their pictures as they posed with two-fingered "victory" signs and brandished their guns.

The militias warmly shook hands with the journalists. One of them told the Global Times that he is from Slavyansk, a "heroic city" that he vowed to return one day.

Slavyansk, a city to the north of Donetsk, was held by rebels for almost three months before the Ukrainian army retook it in early July. Ukrainian air strikes and heavy artillery caused many deaths and massive damage in the city.

Another fighter told the Global Times he was from Ossetia, and he came to Donetsk to help local people defend themselves.

Among the rebel fighters participating in the parade was a teenage boy. He wore a camouflage shirt and held an AK-47, which stood in stark contrast to his gentle and innocent face. The teen seemed out of place.  

He introduced himself as 15-year-old Andrey.

But before Andrey could respond to the question of whether he is among the rebels or merely participating in the parade, a bearded man in his 40s answered for him. 

"Andrey is one of the commanders in the rebel army," he told the Global Times.

Andrey confirmed, explaining he is the youngest among the rebels and leading a team of 15 fighters aged between 20 and 50.

The teen said he arrived in the city with his father and joined the rebel strategic department, where there was a need for a commander. They felt he was right for the position.

Andrey said in a calm tone that he and his people have been patrolling around the city of Hartzisk in the Donetsk region.

Before he could answer another question, Andrey left with the fleet to continue in the parade.

But later on Saturday, a blog post on freejournal.biz carried a picture of Andrey and said the boy hadn't engaged in fighting on the frontline, but soon will.

The fleet marched on to the beat of a blaring Soviet-era song. Its lyrics were recently rewritten to boost the morale of rebel fighters: "We will not give up. We must fight. We will go to Kiev to show they were wrong. We will keep fighting, and this place won't be controlled by the Ukrainian army."