'' by
Ilya Repin, 1880–1891 The roots of Ukrainian national symbols come from pre-Christian times when yellow and blue prevailed in traditional ceremonies, reflecting fire and water. The most solid proof of yellow and blue colours can be traced back as far as the
Battle of Grunwald in 1410, in which militia formations from the
Ruthenian Voivodeship participated. Blue-yellow, red-black, crimson-olive and especially raspberry colour banners were widely used by
Ukrainian Cossacks between the 16th and 18th centuries. These were not the only possible combinations, since normally Cossacks would fly their
hetman's banners, which were similar to the coats of arms of the nobility. Also, yellow and blue were the colours common on coats of arms in
Galicia. In fact, the coat of arms of
Lviv to this day remains a golden lion on a blue field. Some put the starting point of the adoption of the current national flag of Ukraine to 1848 when, during the
Spring of Nations on 22 April 1848, a blue-and-yellow banner was adopted by the
Supreme Ruthenian Council in Lemberg (
Lviv), the capital of the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (a
crownland of the
Austrian Empire). On 25 June 1848 two blue and yellow banners flew over the
city's magistrate (Rathaus) for the first time. Although this move did not have significant consequences, the newly formed Ukrainian divisions in the
Imperial-Royal Landwehr of the
Austro-Hungarian Army used blue-and-yellow banners in their insignia. During the
Russian Revolution of 1905, this flag was used by Ukrainians of the
Dnieper Ukraine.
Early independence: 1917–1921 , 1918 troops with the blue and yellow flag, 1918 Both blue-yellow and yellow-blue flags were widely used during the
Ukrainian struggle for independence in 1917. For the first time in the history of the
Russian Empire, the blue-yellow flag was flown on 25 March 1917 in
Petrograd during a 20,000-strong mass
demonstration. as an indication that the official flag was light blue–yellow. Also adopted were several other service flags of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The official flag of
Pavlo Skoropadsky's
Hetmanate was also light blue-yellow and remained the same under the
Directorate of
Symon Petlura. The flag of the
West Ukrainian People's Republic was blue-yellow. The stateless
Makhnovshchina, which existed during the
Ukrainian War of Independence, used the
black flag. Among Ukrainian immigrant organisations, there were proponents of both blue-yellow and yellow-blue flags. Eventually, an agreement was reached to use the blue-yellow flag until the issue could be resolved by an independent Ukraine. {{gallery
Soviet Ukraine: 1922–1991 : "Ukraine has not perished, it has not been killed yet". During Soviet rule, the Ukrainian flag was banned, and anyone displaying it could be criminally prosecuted for "anti-Soviet propaganda". The first flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 10 March 1919, to serve as the symbol of state of
Soviet Ukraine. Details of the official flag changed periodically before the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, but all were based on the red flag of the
October Revolution in Russia and an exact replica of the flags of the neighbouring
Russian SFSR. The first flag was red with the gold Cyrillic sans-serif letters (U.S.S.R., acronym for in the
Russian language). In the 1930s, a gold border was added to the flag. In 1937, a new flag was adopted, with a small gold hammer and sickle added above the gold Cyrillic serif (U.R.S.R., for in the Ukrainian language).
Interbellum and Reichskommissariat Ukraine The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organisation which as a movement was originally created in 1929 in Western Ukraine (interwar Poland at the time). For a long time, the OUN did not officially have its own flag; however, during the Hungarian and Polish aggression against the
Republic of Carpathian Ukraine in 1939, Carpathian Sich, a militarised wing of the OUN, adopted as its flag a design taken from the OUN's emblem – a golden nationalistic trident on a blue background. The flag was finalised and only officially adopted by the organisation in 1964 at the 5th Assembly of Ukrainian Nationalists. The
Ukrainian Insurgent Army was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan army that engaged in a series of guerrilla conflicts during World War II against
Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia, and both underground and
communist Poland. The group was the military wing of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists — Bandera faction (the OUN-B), originally formed in Volyn in the spring and summer of 1943. Its official date of creation is 14 October 1942. The battle flag of the UPA was a 2:3 ratio red-and-black banner. The flag continues to be a symbol of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. The colours of the flag symbolise 'Ukrainian red blood spilled on Ukrainian black earth'. In 1949, the flag of the Soviet Ukraine was changed once again.
Return of the national flag for the first time on 24 July 1990. Under the influence of
Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of
perestroika and
glasnost, individual Soviet republics gained a strengthened sense of national identity, leading to the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This was particularly true for the three
Baltic states and
Western Ukraine, which were the last territories annexed into Soviet Union. The national awakening was accompanied by attempts to restore historical national symbols. In 1988, the
Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR re-established Lithuania's national flag and coat of arms as the state symbol. The parliaments of
Latvia and
Estonia soon followed suit. The events in the Baltic countries soon led to similar patterns in Ukraine. In particular, West Ukraine and the
Ukrainian SSR's capital city of
Kyiv were the scenes of near-constant political demonstrations, in which yellow-and-blue flags were waved by demonstrators. • On 14 March 1990, the Ukrainian flag was raised for the first time since the establishment of the Soviet Union in the small city of
Stryi. • On 20 March 1990, the
Ternopil town council voted on the use and re-establishment of the yellow-and-blue flag and the
tryzub and
Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy national anthem. The same day, the yellow-and-blue national flag was flown for the first time in 80 years on a governmental building in Kyiv, replacing the then-official
red-azure flag of the Ukrainian SSR. • On 28 April 1990, the
Lviv oblast council (
oblasna rada) also allowed the use of the national symbols of Ukraine within the Oblast. • On 29 April 1990, the yellow-and-blue flag was flown from the Ternopil city theatre's flagstaff without the
flag of the Soviet Union hanging above it. • After 24 July 1990, the yellow-and-blue flag was flown for the first time over an official governmental building, the
Kyiv City Council, on
Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square of
Khreshchatyk Street. • After the
declaration of independence of Ukraine on 24 August 1991, the national yellow-and-blue flag flew for the first time over the
Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) building on 4 September 1991. As the Soviet red and azure flag remained the
de jure flag of the newly-independent Ukraine, the blue and yellow flag was provisionally adopted for official ceremonies in August 1991 following
Ukrainian independence, before officially being restored on 28 January 1992 by the
Parliament of Ukraine. At the beginning of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, landmarks all over the world were lit up with the colours of the Ukrainian flag, while numerous cities raised the Ukrainian flag in solidarity.
Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, an independent
Belarusian volunteer regiment, also adopted the colours of the Ukrainian flag in its insignia. ==Controversies and criticism==