Origin of the Ukrainian flag. National flag of Ukraine: tales of an inverted banner

Since ancient times, different peoples used certain symbols during battles, which were supposed to indicate the meeting place of warriors and raise their morale. Typically, it was a three- or four-cornered piece of cloth attached to a spear. Ancient Ukrainian flags from the time of Kievan Rus originally depicted Christian saints. A little later, permanent coats of arms of different lands appeared, which became the basis for the formation of modern national symbols. In this article, we will consider what the colors of the Ukrainian flag mean, whether it symbolizes the unity of earth and sky, and discuss other controversial issues.

Banners from the times of Kievan Rus

During the times of Kievan Rus, one of the symbols of princely power was the banner. This was the banner under which the squad went into battle. In addition, the banner acted as a symbol of the united territories. Ancient chronicles indicate that during the times of Kievan Rus, flags had a triangular wedge-shaped shape with the image of princely signs or saints. Mostly these banners were red and were clearly recognizable during the battle. Other blues, yellows, and greens were also used. It should be noted that red is still one of the most popular shades in the colors of coats of arms and flags, especially among the Western and Eastern Slavs (Poland, Belarus, Russia).

Ukrainian flags in the XIII-XVI centuries.

At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. quadrangular flags appear with a banner on the free end of the spear. Also at this time, they actively began to make banners using compounds of several colors.

In the XIII-XIV centuries. The history of Kievan Rus is characterized by such a concept as feudal fragmentation. At this time, each prince had his own banner, which was different from the others.

In the middle of the 14th century. a significant part became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Galician land and Volyn came under the control of Poland. In the middle of the 15th century. these territories became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This greatly influenced the heraldic traditions in Ukrainian lands. Thus, on the symbols of the central regions, most likely under Polish influence, white and red colors began to be found most often. And the Ukrainian flags of the western lands took on a yellow-blue color. These colors became the main ones in the symbolism of Transcarpathia, Lviv, and Podolia.

Flags and symbols during the Hetman period

The history of the Ukrainian flag goes back more than one century. The formation of modern national symbols of the country was significantly influenced by tradition. During the times of the Ukrainian Cossacks, the main symbolic color was crimson. It was under the red banner that Bogdan Khmelnytsky led the national liberation war. In addition, it was the main one in the symbolism of the Nizhyn and Chernigov regiments. Archangel Michael, the heavenly patron of the Cossacks, was often depicted on the flags of the Hetmanate. In addition, on the banners next to crimson there were yellow, blue and green colors, as well as images of the sun, stars, and animals.

History of the Ukrainian flag in the 18th-20th centuries.

In blue and spread in the 18th century. Their combination can be found in the banners of the Kyiv and Chernigov regiments. In 1771, a new banner was made for the Poltava Regiment - blue with a yellow cross. In 1848, the Golovna Ruska Rada proclaimed the ancient princely symbol of the Romanovichs as the national coat of arms - an image of a golden lion leaning on a rock on a blue background.

In the second half of the 19th century, a combination of yellow and blue stripes was gradually established on the rectangular canvas of the Ukrainian flag. Already in 1914, at the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of T. G. Shevchenko, the combination of these colors meant manifestations. It should be noted that at this time the top stripe of the Ukrainian flag was yellow and the bottom stripe was blue. In 1917, the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed. Its government - the Central Rada - proclaimed the colors of the national flag to be yellow and blue.

Approval of the blue-yellow flag

In 1918, after the establishment of the power of Hetman P. Skoropadsky, blue and yellow was proclaimed the state flag. The approval of these colors as national ones was evidenced by the regulatory and constitutional acts of the Directory, as well as the Western Ukrainian People's Republic.

Ukrainian flags from the times of the Soviet Union were radically different from the previous ones. Initially it was a red canvas with a gold inscription: “URSR”. In the post-war period, socialist symbols were changed. Thus, the flag of the Ukrainian SSR combined two stripes: the upper one was red, the lower one was blue. In addition, a sickle and a pentagonal star were depicted at the top of the canvas.

In 1990, a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag appeared at the Stryi town hall for the first time after a long break. Photos and news about this event instantly spread throughout the Ukrainian SSR. In September 1991, the national symbol already towered over the Verkhovna Rada. On January 28, 1992, the blue-yellow flag received state status.

The meaning of the colors of the Ukrainian flag

There is still a debate among scientists, politicians and ordinary citizens about what the colors of the Ukrainian flag symbolize. The official and generally accepted version is that yellow is the embodiment of a wheat field, and blue is the sky above it. However, such an interpretation cannot fully reflect the meaning of each of the colors. The opinion that yellow (gold) symbolizes the Creator, God, the highest essence deserves attention. Blue is everything real, earthly. In addition, this color symbolizes which every person has.

There is an interesting version that the shades of the Ukrainian flag are the two main elements. Yellow is fire and blue is water. In this sense, it would be correct to combine these colors on a modern flag in reverse order. Some scientists argue that the elevation of blue over yellow disrupts the divine harmony of the two elements and causes a “catastrophe” in which water extinguishes fire.

I am forced to write this article by the feelings of modern Ukrainians, who, to put it mildly, do not give a damn about. Does this powerful nation really deserve to be given handouts from time immemorial and just as beautifully taken away?

In 1848, a revolution broke out in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which, after the division of Poland, included the lands of western Ukraine. Poles, Ukrainians and other Slavs at their congress decided to act in united ranks against the usurpers under the red Polish banners. This did not suit the “Austro-Hungarians” in any way and they decided to quarrel with the Slavs. How?

And Galician Ukrainians were allowed to have their own national flag. They took their blue and yellow flag with a coat of arms, removed their great coat of arms and gave it to the Ukrainians. The flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the picture. The Ukrainian flag became without a coat of arms. Moreover, they immediately presented a banner symbolizing the unity of Austria (the lower yellow color was taken from the black and yellow Austrian flag) and the Ukrainian people (the upper blue was considered the color of Kievan Rus). This flag was personally hand-sewn (or embroidered) by the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph. The Ukrainians shed tears from such trust and immediately quarreled with the Poles, and then, it seems, it was under this banner that they participated in the suppression of the Hungarians who rebelled against the empire. By the way, in the state of Lower Austria the flag of the administrative unit is still... blue and yellow.

Ukrainian Cossacks used different banners, although by the middle of the 17th century the main banner was a red one with the image of the Archangel Michael. The large banner (banner) of the Sich was described as follows: on one side there is the Archangel Michael on a red background, on the other there is a white cross, a golden sun, a crescent and stars. Among the banners there were many “complaints”. For example, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf Habsburg in 1593. gave the Cossacks a golden banner with an eagle. The banner was handed over to the Koshe chieftain Bogdan Mikoshinsky by Ambassador Erich Lesota. In 1646, the Polish king Vladislav IV granted the Cossacks a blue banner with a white and red eagle. IN 1649 g . from the Polish king John Casimir they received a red banner with a white eagle, two crosses and the inscription Ioannes Casimirus Rex Poloniae. In 1706, in Bendery, the Turkish Sultan gave Ivan Mazepa a blue and red banner: a crescent and a star are depicted on a red field, and the “golden cross of the Eastern Church” on a blue field. And Peter I gave Hetman Apostol a white banner with the state emblem. It was also used under Hetman Razumovsky.

So, when answering the question of which colors should be recognized as national for Ukrainians, one must proceed not only from which of them prevailed at one time or another in a certain region, but also look for other arguments. At that time in Ukraine there were banners, not flags. And there is a significant difference between them. The banner characterizes a specific individual identity. The flag is a mass symbol. Hence the other requirements for the flag and its colors. They should reflect the people as a whole, without personalizing them with individual, even very eminent, titled individuals. By the way, the current rulers forgot about this when, during the inauguration, the city center was decorated with symbols not of the state, but of those belonging to the son of Viktor Yushchenko.

The impetus for the development of Ukrainian symbols was given by the revolution of 1848. in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The mother of Emperor Franz Joseph herself sewed a blue and yellow flag and sent it to the Galicians who distinguished themselves in suppressing the Hungarian rebellion. There is still debate about why the Empress Mother chose these colors. According to one version, they symbolize wheat and the Danube, according to another, they are inspired by the image of a golden lion on a blue field, which adorned the coat of arms of the Galicia-Volyn principality.

In March 1917 . The Central Rada of Ukraine was created. Its head was Mikhail Grushevsky. May 18 1917 . At the first All-Ukrainian Military Congress, the Petrograd delegation sent a blue and yellow flag with the inscription: “Long live national-territorial autonomy.” True, other colors were also popular. Thus, in March of the same year, a provincial cooperative congress was held in Kyiv, which advocated, in particular, for a democratic federal republic in Russia with national-territorial autonomy of Ukraine. A large demonstration took place, at which eyewitnesses counted over 300 flags. Among them were red and yellow-blue.

November 22 1917 . The Central Rada proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) within the Russian Federation. During the time of the Central Revolution, the approval of the main state symbols - the coat of arms and flag - was accompanied by great difficulties.

Although Grushevsky is considered to be the author of the idea of introducing the Rurikovich trident as a coat of arms, as well as the blue and yellow banner, this is far from true. in autumn 1917 . he stated that this “is not so simple, since there was no legally recognized sovereign emblem of Ukraine.” And the trident should be perceived only as a “garneaux stylized heraldic sign of unclear meaning.” So unclear that “it could be a stylized card.” In November, however, he agreed that the problems of symbolism are among those that “raise negaynogo porosheniya.” At the same time, he outlined his own vision: “In the simplest way possible, a gold (yellow) star on a blue aphid could be taken as a sign of the new Ukraine, according to the number of lands of the new Ukrainian Republic.” Just like the USA, only the stars are yellow instead of white!

And for revolutionary times, the “counter-revolutionary” banner, presented to the Galicians for their participation in the suppression of the revolution, was not suitable as a symbol. But time passed, they could not agree on the symbolism (only the graphic artist Narbut stylized the Rurikovich trident and placed it on a hundred-ruble banknote, and since Ukraine, as Grushevsky wrote then, “has now restored its power to the bute, which was saved by Moscow violence and slyness, it is the most natural For her, they will turn to those old sovereign insignia and coats of arms, which she lived through in ancient times.”

January 14 1918. The Central Rada of the UPR issued a law on naval flags. The flag of the navy became a blue-yellow bicolor; in the canton, on a blue field, a golden trident with a white inner field was depicted. On March 22 of the same year, the CR in Kyiv adopted the state flag of the UPR - a yellow-blue banner. This arrangement of colors was adopted at the insistence of M. Grushevsky, a champion of German heraldry (according to which it is “correct” to place the color of the coat of arms at the top of the flag and the color of the field at the bottom).

May 2 1918 ., having dispersed the CR, the government of Hetman P. Skoropadsky came to power. Obviously an officer, a nobleman did not know the history or, most likely, did not want to admit it in order to please his patrons. Under him, the order of stripes on the state flag was changed: blue was placed at the top. December 1918. Hetmanate Skoropadsky was replaced by the Directory (1918-1920), under which the trident coat of arms and the blue-yellow flag were preserved.

January 22 1919 . In Kyiv, the so-called Act of Conciliarity of Ukraine was proclaimed, that is, the unification of the UPR and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. In the draft Constitution of the UPR, developed by the All-Ukrainian National Rada in Kamenets-Podilskyi in 1920 ., the flags were described as follows: “Article 10. The state colors of the Ukrainian State are blue and yellow. Article 11. The flag of the navy is blue and yellow with the state emblem of gold color in the left corner of the blue part of the flag. The Merchant Navy flag is blue and yellow." During the Great Patriotic War, the blue and yellow flag was used by some Ukrainian units that fought as part of the Nazi-German troops. In particular, the SS division "Galicia" had a yellow-blue flag with a dark blue trident at the pole. Therefore, in Soviet Ukraine, this symbolism was associated with Ukrainian nationalism.

December 1917 . A revolutionary government of Soviet Ukraine was formed in Kharkov, which did not recognize the CR. The 1st All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets met in Kiev, but the Bolshevik faction refused to work with supporters of the Rada, moved to Kharkov and declared itself the First Congress of Soviets of Ukraine. On it (December 11-12 (24-25) 1917 .) elected the Central Executive Committee of the UPR and proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies. The flag of the republic was a red banner with a national yellow-blue canton. In March - April 1918 . under pressure from the German occupation forces, the People's Secretariat of the UPR of the Soviets left Ukraine.

The 3rd Congress of Soviets of Ukraine met in Kharkov, proclaiming the creation of the Ukrainian SSR, which immediately entered into a military alliance with the RSFSR. January 15 1923 . a sample flag was published: on a red field the letters “U.” S.S.R.” (Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the approval of the flags, coat of arms and seal of the Republic). IN 1927 . The abbreviation changed to "URSR". This was officially enshrined in the Constitution.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR of November 21 1949 . The flag of the republic was changed. It consisted of red and blue horizontal stripes. On the red one, which was twice as wide as the blue one, a golden sickle and hammer were depicted, and above that there was a red five-pointed star with a gold border. The ratio of the length of the panel to its width was 2:1. With this flag we survived until Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

At the dawn of independence we lived with the flag according to Grushevsky, now we live with the flag according to Skoropadsto whom. However, if only this were the main problem today. Ukraine may soon find itself in a difficult political and economic situation, when we no longer need state symbols. Just a few years ago our country was called the economic tiger of Eastern Europe. And now what happens is a stone for our garden. During the Orange regime, we found ourselves, maybe not on the edge of an abyss, but somewhere close. Thank God that at least the option that was proposed during the Orange government did not become the state flag.

Our political elite must come to its senses, and then Ukraine will have success - Ukraine will exist, but if it doesn’t come to its senses, it will cease to exist. Although, it’s unlikely that anything good will happen until we change our Ukrainian mentality.

Lately I have seen a lot of squabbles around the symbols of Ukraine, incl. there are many myths around the history of the national flag of Ukraine, especially afterb Bloodhound Gang assistant urinated on the Ukrainian flag . Therefore, I’m conducting a small educational program - publishing my long-standing article from the weekly magazine “2000”, dedicated to the history of the flags of Ukraine.

Lydia Denisenko’s article “To each party - according to color” (“2000”, No. 45 (293), 11-17.11.05), which talks about the use of state symbols by parties, made us think about what our sovereign flag. In any sovereign country, for example the USA or Great Britain, all flags - from those flying over government bodies to flags in children's hands - are absolutely identical in color and proportions. In our country, if you walk down the street on some national holiday, you will see such a variety of colors, shades, and proportions of the flag that your eyes will widen.

The history of the flag of Ukraine is complex, and, apparently, it is not yet completed. Its description in the Constitution is rather vague. Article 20 states that “the sovereign flag of Ukraine is a banner of two equally large horizontal dark blue and yellow colors”, “a description of the sovereign symbols of Ukraine and their order are established by law...” With the law on the flag, as well as with the great state a coat of arms, alas, has not yet worked out. Our political elite has more important things to do. But how are the stripes placed? Which one is the top one, which one is the bottom one? For example, if you change the geometry of the Ukrainian flag or the color scheme, the emphasis in the system of historical values and ideas will immediately change. Yulia Tymoshenko wisely took advantage of the lack of a clear description of the national flag when, during a memorable live broadcast on Inter, putting a handkerchief to her dry eyes, she pressed orange and blue ribbons to her heart and promised to unite the various “Maidans” and Ukraine.

Flags and Banners

So, the history of the Ukrainian flag. When did it start? In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, units formed on Ukrainian lands also fought against the crusaders. Among them was the “Leopolskaya” (that is, Lviv) banner, on the banner of which was depicted “a yellow lion ascending, as it were, onto a rock, on an azure field.” This is how the Polish historian J. Dlugosh described it in the book “Battle of Grunwald”. This is one of the first mentions of the colors of the coat of arms of the Lviv land. Three banners of Podolia with a sunny face on a red background are also named.

Banner Lviv land in the Battle of Grunwald

Ukrainian Cossacks used different banners, although by the middle of the 17th century the main banner was a red one with the image of the Archangel Michael.

The large banner (banner) of the Sich was described as follows: on one side there is the Archangel Michael on a red background, on the other there is a white cross, a golden sun, a crescent and stars. Among the banners there were many “complaints”. For example, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf Habsburg in 1593. gave the Cossacks a golden banner with an eagle. The banner was handed over to the Koshe chieftain Bogdan Mikoshinsky by Ambassador Erich Lesota. In 1646 Polish king Wladislav IV gave the Cossacks a blue banner with a white and red eagle. In 1649, from the Polish king John Casimir they received a red banner with a white eagle, two crosses and the inscription Ioannes Casimirus Rex Poloniae. In 1706, in Bendery, the Turkish Sultan gave Ivan Mazepa a blue and red banner: a crescent and a star are depicted on a red field, and the “golden cross of the Eastern Church” on a blue field. And Peter I gave Hetman Apostol a white banner with the state emblem. It was also used under Hetman Razumovsky.

Banner with Archangel Michael and Abdank - coat of arms of Bohdan Khmelnytsky

The revolution of 1848 gave a new impetus to the development of Ukrainian symbols. in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The mother of Emperor Franz Joseph herself sewed a blue and yellow flag and sent it to the Galicians who distinguished themselves in suppressing the Hungarian rebellion. There is still debate about why the Empress Mother chose these colors. According to one version, they symbolize wheat and the Danube, according to another, they are inspired by the image of a golden lion on a blue field, which adorned the coat of arms of the Galicia-Volyn principality.

"Derzhavne Bute"

In March 1917, the Central Rada of Ukraine was created. Its head was Mikhail Grushevsky. May 18, 1917 at the first All-Ukrainian military congress Petrograd delegation sent a blue and yellow flag with the inscription: “Long live national-territorial autonomy.” True, other colors were also popular. Thus, in March of the same year, a provincial cooperative congress was held in Kyiv, which advocated, in particular, for “a democratic federal republic in Russia with national-territorial autonomy of Ukraine.” A large demonstration took place, at which eyewitnesses counted over 300 flags. Among them were red and yellow-blue. In the wake of these events, the Kiev newspaper “Last News” published the following verses:

And under this radiant vault
In a whirlwind of jubilant ringing trumpets
Over the free joyful people
Red banners fly proudly.
Can't hold back the jubilant elements:
You can’t grasp the whole picture with your eyes...
Here the yellow-blues shine
Proudly flags of “Vilnaya Ukraine”.

On November 22, 1917, the Central Rada proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) within the Russian Federation. During the time of the Central Revolution, the approval of the main state symbols - the coat of arms and flag - was accompanied by great difficulties.

Although Grushevsky is considered to be the author of the idea of introducing the Rurikovich trident as a coat of arms, as well as the blue and yellow banner, this is far from true. In the fall of 1917, he stated that “this is not so simple, because there was no legally recognized sovereign emblem of Ukraine.” And the trident should be perceived only as a “garneaux stylized heraldic sign of unclear meaning.” So unclear that “it could be a stylized card.” In November, however, he agreed that the problems of symbolism are among those that “raise negaynogo porosheniya.” At the same time, he outlined his own vision: “In the simplest way possible, a gold (yellow) star on a blue aphid could be taken as a sign of the new Ukraine, according to the number of lands of the new Ukrainian Republic.” Just like the USA, only the stars are yellow instead of white! And for revolutionary times, the “counter-revolutionary” banner, presented by the Habsburgs to the Galicians for their participation in the suppression of the revolution, was not suitable as a symbol. But time passed, they could not agree on symbolism (only the graphic artist Narbut stylized the Rurikovich trident and placed it on a hundred-hryvnia banknote), and since Ukraine, as Grushevsky wrote then, “has now restored its power to the bute, which was saved by Moscow violence and slyness, then the greatest “It’s natural for her to go back to those old sovereign symbols and coats of arms, which she lived through in ancient times.”

Projects of state symbols of the UPR in 1918 according to M. Grushevsky:

gold stars on a blue background (7 - according to the number of letters in the word “Ukraine”;
golden stars on a blue background (30 - according to the number of historical lands of Ukraine);
gold letter “U” (Ukraine or UPR - Ukrainian People's Republic) on a blue background;
a golden plow on a blue field, as a symbol of “creative peaceful labor in the new Ukraine,” with the condition that this particular sign will take the main place on the shield, composed of historical Ukrainian Coats of Arms. “Symbols of the working people” were offered as shield bearers - a woman with a sickle on one side and a worker with a hammer on the other. Mikhail Grushevsky suggested the color of the shield to be blue, not light blue.

On January 14, 1918, the Central Rada of the UPR issued a law on naval flags. The flag of the navy became a blue-yellow bicolor; in the canton, on a blue field, a golden trident with a white inner field was depicted. On March 22 of the same year, the CR in Kyiv adopted the state flag of the UPR - a yellow-blue banner. This arrangement of colors was adopted at the insistence of M. Grushevsky, a champion of German heraldry (according to which it is “correct” to place the color of the coat of arms at the top of the flag and the color of the field at the bottom).

Naval flag of the UPR, 1918

On May 2, 1918, having dispersed the CR, the government of Hetman P. Skoropadsky came to power. Under him, the order of stripes on the state flag was changed: blue was placed at the top. In December 1918, the Hetmanate of Skoropadsky was replaced by the Directory (1918-1920), under which the trident coat of arms and the blue and yellow flag were preserved.

On January 22, 1919, the so-called Act of Conciliarity of Ukraine was proclaimed in Kyiv, that is, the unification of the UPR and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. In the draft Constitution of the UPR, developed by the All-Ukrainian National Rada in Kamenets-Podolsk in 1920, the flags were described as follows: “Article 10. The state colors of the Ukrainian State are blue and yellow. Article 11. The flag of the navy is blue and yellow with the state emblem of gold color in the left corner of the blue part of the flag. The Merchant Navy flag is blue and yellow."

During the Great Patriotic War, the blue and yellow flag was used by some Ukrainian units that fought as part of the Nazi-German troops. In particular, the SS division "Galicia" had a yellow-blue flag with a dark blue trident at the pole. Therefore, in Soviet Ukraine, this symbolism was associated with Ukrainian nationalism. For example, the poet Dmitro Pavlychko once wrote about the current sovereign flag:

So it didn’t give in to the timid outcasts
You will be expelled with yellow-blue pus
At the cold-windy stranger.

Symbols of Soviet Ukraine

In December 1917, a revolutionary government of Soviet Ukraine was formed in Kharkov, which did not recognize the CR. The 1st All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets met in Kiev, but the Bolshevik faction refused to work with supporters of the Rada, moved to Kharkov and declared itself the 1st Congress of Soviets of Ukraine. At it (December 11-12 (24-25), 1917), the Central Executive Committee of the UPR was elected and the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Soldiers' and Cossacks' Deputies was proclaimed. The flag of the republic was a red banner with a national yellow-blue canton. In March - April 1918, under pressure from the German occupation forces, the People's Secretariat of the Ukrainian People's Republic of the Soviets left Ukraine.

Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets within Soviet Russia
(12.12.1917 — 19.03.1918)

On March 10, 1919, the 3rd Congress of Soviets of Ukraine met in Kharkov, proclaiming the creation of the Ukrainian SSR, which immediately entered into a military alliance with the RSFSR. On January 15, 1923, a sample flag was published: on a red field the letters “U.” S.S.R.” (Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the approval of the flags, coat of arms and seal of the Republic). In 1927, the abbreviation changed to “URSR”. This was officially enshrined in the 1929 Constitution.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR dated November 21, 1949, the flag of the republic was changed. It consisted of red and blue horizontal stripes. On the red one, which was twice as wide as the blue one, a golden sickle and hammer were depicted, and above that there was a red five-pointed star with a gold border. The ratio of the length of the panel to its width was 2:1. With this flag we survived until Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

At the dawn of independence, we lived with the flag according to Grushevsky, now we live with the flag according to Skoropadsky. However, if only this were the main problem today. Ukraine may soon find itself in a situation of political and economic Makhnovshchina, when we will no longer need state symbols. Just a year ago, our country was called the economic tiger of Eastern Europe. During the year of orange power, we found ourselves on the edge of an abyss. And if our political elite does not come to its senses, according to Anatoly Tolstoukhov, “everything will be as Brzezinski said at the last round table in America: if Ukraine succeeds, Ukraine will succeed; if it doesn’t, it will cease to exist, having not long survived the “era” Kuchma” (“New Monday”, No. 24, 11/14/05).

To the point:

Lately I have seen a lot of squabbles around the symbols of Ukraine, incl. there are many myths around the history of the national flag of Ukraine, especially afterb. Therefore, I’m conducting a small educational program - publishing my long-standing article from the weekly magazine “2000”, dedicated to the history of the flags of Ukraine.

Flags and Banners

So, the history of the Ukrainian flag. When did it start? In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, units formed on Ukrainian lands also fought against the crusaders. Among them was the “Leopolskaya” (that is, Lviv) banner, on the banner of which was depicted “a yellow lion ascending, as it were, onto a rock, on an azure field.” This is how the Polish historian J. Dlugosh described it in the book “Battle of Grunwald”. This is one of the first mentions of the colors of the coat of arms of the Lviv land. Three banners of Podolia with a sunny face on a red background are also named.

Banner Lviv land in the Battle of Grunwald

Ukrainian Cossacks used different banners, although by the middle of the 17th century the main banner was a red one with the image of the Archangel Michael.

"Derzhavne Bute"

So it didn’t give in to the timid outcasts
You will be expelled with yellow-blue pus
At the cold-windy stranger.

Symbols of Soviet Ukraine

The State Flag is one of the three official state symbols symbolizing the sovereignty of the state. The State Flag of Ukraine is a flag of two equal horizontal stripes of blue and yellow with a ratio of the width of the flag to its length of 2:3.
The Ukrainian national tradition of symbolically depicting the world has been formed over several millennia. The use of yellow and blue colors (with different shades) on the flags of Ukraine-Rus' can be traced back to the adoption of Christianity. Subsequently, these two colors acquire the significance of state colors.
In the middle of the 17th century, after the Hetmanate annexed the Russian state, blue panels with gold or yellow images of crosses and other signs became widespread. Since the times of the Cossacks, the yellow-blue color combination gradually begins to dominate on Ukrainian banners, flags and kleinods.
After the tradition of Cossack symbolism was interrupted, for a long time in Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire, the issue of national symbols was not raised.
The first attempt to create a yellow-blue flag of two horizontal stripes approximately of the same shape as now was carried out by the Main Russian Rada (the body that represented the national movement of the Ukrainian population of Galicia), which began the struggle for the revival of the Ukrainian nation. In June 1848, a yellow-blue flag was raised for the first time at the Lviv City Hall.
The impetus for the spread of yellow-blue symbols was the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia.
On March 22, 1918, the Central Council adopted the Law on the State Flag of the Republic, approving the yellow-blue flag as the symbol of the Ukrainian People's Republic. On November 13, 1918, the blue and yellow flag became the state symbol of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. It was approved in Subcarpathian Rus', and in 1939 - in Carpathian Ukraine. In the period 1917 - early 1919. The blue and yellow flag was also used by the Bolsheviks in Ukraine.
The blue-yellow color combination finally took shape as a national one at the beginning of the 20th century. The symbols of Ukraine in their newest interpretation are a cloudless sky as a symbol of peace - blue, and ripe wheat fields as a symbol of prosperity - yellow.

During Soviet times, the flag of Ukraine was red with the obligatory hammer, sickle and star and a blue stripe along the lower edge of the flag. The blue stripe symbolized “the color of the banners of Bohdan Khmelnytsky.” Although what specific banners were discussed is not known.

In the 1990s, the national yellow-blue (“yellow-blakit”) flag became widespread, first in nationalist circles, and then everywhere. The shade of blue was very light at first. However, the state was in no hurry to officially change its symbols. By the time of the collapse of the USSR, the national flag of Ukraine remained Soviet. Although, for example, on July 24, 1990, the Presidium of the Kyiv City Council of People's Deputies decided to hang a blue and yellow flag next to the state red and blue one in front of the City Council building on Khreshchatyk. And on September 4, 1991, in Kyiv, a blue and yellow flag was raised over the building of the Supreme Council (also together with a red and blue one).
Officially, the new state flag of Ukraine was adopted by a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of January 28, 1992.
In August 2004, then-President Leonid Kuchma signed Decree No. 987/2004 establishing the National Flag Day of Ukraine, which is celebrated annually on August 23. Before this, National Flag Day was celebrated only in Kyiv at the municipal level.