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Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg

The Flag of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Державний Прапор України; translit.: Derzhavnyi Prapor Ukrainy; literally: Governmental Flag of Ukraine) is the Ukrainian nation's national flag. It was officially adopted for the first time in history in 1918 by a short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic. At that time it had already turned into blue and yellow and sported a Tryzub in the upper left corner. The insignia remained unchanged by the successive government of Pavlo Skoropadsky and was later integrated into the Flag of Ukrainian SSR by the Bolsheviks.

Under Soviet rule this flag was forbidden as a symbol of nationalism. The Ukrainian SSR had its own flag. The original yellow-and-blue flag was officially restored in 1992.

Article 20 of the Constitution of Ukraine states:

...Державний Прапор України – стяг із двох рівновеликих горизонтальних смуг синього і жовтого кольорів.

...Translation: National Flag of Ukraine is a banner of two equal-sized horizontal strips colored blue and yellow.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Return of the national flag 2 See also 3 External links

[edit] History

Blue and white banners were widely used by Cossacks between 16-18th centuries. However, it wasn't the only possible combination since normally cossacs would fly Hetman's banners which were similar to the coats of arms of the nobility. However, yellow and blue were the colours common on coats of arms in Galicia. In fact, the coat of arms of Lviv to the day remains a golden lion on a blue field.

Image:Flag of Ukraine (Presidential Standard).gif

Image:Naval Ensign of Ukraine (dress).svg

The true starting point of the current national flag of Ukraine can be set in 1848, when during the Spring of the Nations a yellow and blue banner flew over the Lviv magistrate for the first time. Although this move didn't have significant consequences, the newly formed Ukrainian divisions in the Austrian army used yellow and blue banners in their insignia.

It has to be noted that although most Ukrainians identify their flag as "yellow and blue", the current flag in reality is blue and yellow. The whole transition is quite notable. Although in 1848 the flag was indeed yellow and blue (yellow on top, blue at the bottom), in daily work Ukrainian nationalists turned the flag to be able to explain its meaning to a common person. The common explanation of "blue sky above yellow field of wheat" was invented around that time, and, although it has nothing to do with the choice of colours and the history of the original yellow and blue banner, it certainly formed the flag as we know it today.

In the late 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian empire was much more tolerant toward the Ukrainian national movement than the Russian Empire concerning the flag. A lot of literary work was done there, thus spreading the idea to the rest of Ukraine.

[edit] Return of the national flag

Under the influence of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika and Glasnost years, the individual Soviet repulics had strengthened their sense of national unity, which led to the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This concerned all of the Baltic Soviet Republics and Western Ukraine, which were the last territories to join the Soviet Union. These nationalistic efforts were accompanied with attempts to restore the respective historical national symbols. In 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR re-established Lithuania's historic coat of arms as the state symbol. The Parliaments of Latvia and Estonia soon followed.

The events in the Baltic Republics soon lead to similar processes in Ukraine. Particularly, West Ukraine and Ukrainian SSR's capital Kiev (Kyiv) constantly held political demonstrations with the national yellow-and-blue flags waving above the heads of the demonstrators.

• On March 20, 1990, the town council (mis’ka rada) of Ternopil voted upon the usage and re-establishment of the yellow-and-blue flag and the Tryzub as well as the national anthem Sche ne vmerla Ukrainy. On the same day, the yellow-and-blue national flag was flown for the first time in about 80 years on a governmental building in Kiev, replacing the then official red-and-blue flag of the Ukrainian SSR.

• On April 28, 1990, the Oblast Administration (oblasna rada) of Lvov (Lviv) also allowed the use of the national symbols of Ukraine within the Oblast.

• On April 29, 1990, the yellow-and-blue flag was flown from the Ternopil city theater's flagstaff without the official flag of the Soviet Union hanging above it.

• After July 24, 1990, the yellow-and-blue flag was flown for the first time over an official governmental building of the Kiev City Council on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti square of the Khreschatyk street.

• After the declaration of independence of Ukraine on August 24, 1991, the national yellow-and-blue flag flew for the first time over the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) building on September 4, 1991.

[edit] See also

• List of flags of Ukraine

[edit] External links

• fotw.net - Flags of Ukraine

National flags	National coats of arms
Flags of sovereign states	Coats of arms of sovereign states
Flags of dependent territories	Coats of arms of dependent territories
Flags of unrecognized states	Coats of arms of unrecognized states
Flags of micronations	Coats of arms of micronations
Flags of formerly independent states

Image:Coat of arms of Ukraine.svg	Flags of Ukrainian Subdivisions			Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg
	National: Ukraine | Presidential Standard | Ukrainian Navy
	Oblasts: Cherkasy | Chernihiv | Chernivtsi | Dnipropetrovsk | Donetsk | Ivano-Frankivsk | Kharkiv | Kherson | Khmelnytskyi | Kirovohrad | Kiev | Kiev (city) | Luhansk | Lviv | Mykolaiv | Odessa | Poltava | Rivne | Sevastopol | Sumy | Ternopil | Vinnytsia | Volyn | Zakarpattia | Zaporizhia | Zhytomyr
	Autonomous Republic: Crimea

bs:Zastava Ukrajine

bg:Национално знаме на Украйна cy:Baner Wcráin de:Flagge der Ukraine es:Bandera de Ucrania eu:Ukrainako bandera fr:Drapeau de l'Ukraine it:Bandiera ucraina he:דגל אוקראינה lt:Ukrainos vėliava hu:Ukrajna zászlaja nl:Vlag van Oekraïne ja:ウクライナの国旗 no:Ukrainas flagg pl:Flaga Ukrainy pt:Bandeira da Ucrânia ro:Steagul Ucrainei ru:Флаг Украины sr:Застава Украјине fi:Ukrainan lippu sv:Ukrainas flagga tr:Ukrayna Bayrağı uk:Державний Прапор України