Ukraine marks National Flag Day

According to Ukrinform, the holiday was established “to honor the centuries-old history of Ukrainian state-building, the state symbols of independent Ukraine, and to foster citizens’ respect for the state symbols of Ukraine,” pursuant to the Presidential Decree of August 23, 2004. In 2009, amendments to this decree introduced the annual official flag-raising ceremony held across Ukraine on August 23.

The blue-and-yellow colors of the flag have at least a millennium of history, dating back to the Kyivan Rus and the Galicia-Volhynia Principality. During the wave of European revolutions in 1848, known as the “Spring of Nations,” the blue-and-yellow banner became established as the flag of the Ukrainian people. In June 1848, it was first raised over the city hall in Lviv. The blue-and-yellow flag was officially recognized as a state symbol with the proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR). Later, Ukraine experienced the period of the red “hammer-and-sickle” flag, and the blue-and-yellow flag was criminalized.

In modern history, the national blue-and-yellow flag was first officially raised over the city hall of Stryi on March 14, 1990. In Kyiv, the flag was hoisted over the city hall later, on July 24, 1990.

On August 23, 1991, a group of members of parliament brought the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag into the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada, and on September 4, it was ceremoniously raised over the parliament building.

Since the beginning of Russian aggression, the blue-and-yellow flag has become a symbol of struggle and resistance against the invaders.

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Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, congratulated defenders on National Flag Day and emphasized that the blue-and-yellow flag is a symbol of freedom.

According to Syrskyi, since ancient times, every people had their own emblem—a sacred cloth that showed warriors in battle where their own forces were and where the enemy stood. The flag united, marked the rallying point, the direction of the attack, and the presence of the commander. Over time, the flag became an embodiment and a manifesto of statehood.

“Our blue-and-yellow flag flew over the heroes of liberation struggles more than a century ago. Under the blue-and-yellow colors fought the soldiers of the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Ukrainian Galician Army, and later—the Ukrainian Insurgent Army,” the general noted.

According to Syrskyi, the entire world recognizes that the blue-and-yellow flag is a symbol of freedom—a flag feared by Russia. It is the flag of a people fighting for their independence and holding back the Russian horde that seeks to kill and destroy freedom.

“This flag is raised by Ukrainian soldiers on the front line and in liberated towns and villages, by resistance activists in temporarily occupied territories, and by Ukrainian athletes on the podiums of world championships,” the Commander-in-Chief stressed.

Photo: Office of the President