Ukraine marks National Flag Day

The holiday was established “in honor of the centuries-old history of Ukrainian statehood, the state symbols of independent Ukraine and in order to foster respect for the state symbols of Ukraine” by the presidential decree of August 23, 2004. In 2009, the decree was amended to establish an annual official flag-raising ceremony throughout Ukraine on August 23, Ukrinform reports.

The blue and yellow colors on the flag have at least a thousand-year history and date back to the times of Kyivan Rus and the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia. During the wave of European revolutions in 1848, called the “Spring of Nations,” the blue and yellow flag was established as the flag of the Ukrainian people. Back in June 1848, the flag was first raised above the Lviv Town Hall. The approval of the blue and yellow flag as the national one took place with the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Then in the history of Ukraine, there was a period of the red flag with “sickle and hammer”, and people were jailed for blue and yellow flag colors.

In modern times, the national blue and yellow flag was first officially hoisted above the Stryi Town Hall on March 14, 1990. In Kyiv, the flag was raised over the city hall on July 24, 1990.

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

After the beginning of Russian aggression, the blue and yellow flag became a symbol of struggle and resistance to the invaders.