This year's Bastille Day celebrations aren't just about France. Troops and warplanes from around Europe are joining Tuesday's pomp-filled parade through Paris, in what's meant to be a showcase of support for Ukraine and proof of European military strength

Cadets from France's École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM) march during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris

Bastille is celebrated on July 14 because that's the day Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette to the guillotine

The day is central to the French calendar. Presidents use it to vaunt France's accomplishments and national pride, mayors host village festivals and families gather for holiday meals

The centrepiece is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Elysees avenue, which inspired Trump to stage his own parade last year

The parade will set a record in terms of number of troops: 6,800 troops will take part in the marching parade this year, compared with 5,810 in 2025

On President Emmanuel Macron's last Bastille Day as president, he is hosting around 30 other leaders for an event that appears aimed at showing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump that Europe is united and stepping up to defend itself

On the ground, the parade will open with around 500 troops from the "coalition of the willing" grouping of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine's post-war security

Forest fires are raging in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris and in areas of southern France, as the country suffers through its third heat wave this year. As a result, authorities in some regions, including the French capital, banned fireworks and firefighters' balls customarily held around Bastille Day

Ukrainian troops marched along the cobblestoned avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots trained in France flew two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.