Ukrainian flag raised outside Verkhovna Rada

The State Flag of Ukraine was raised outside the building of the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday, August 23.

Speaker of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, posted this on Facebook and shared the corresponding video, Ukrinform reports.

"Today, as always, on August 23, we are raising the Ukrainian Flag at the walls of the Ukrainian parliament. It is important not to break this tradition, so that only our blue and yellow flag will fly here and throughout Ukraine always and for many years to come!" emphasized Stefanchuk.

As reported by Ukrinform, Ukraine marks National Flag Day on August 23.

The holiday was established "…to honor the centuries-old history of Ukrainian statehood, the state symbols of independent Ukraine, and to foster citizens' respect for the state symbols of Ukraine," reads the presidential decree of August 23, 2004.

In 2009, this decree was amended, and an annual official flag-raising ceremony was introduced across Ukraine on August 23.