A symbol of courage and indomitability

August 23 is the Day of the National Flag of Ukraine, one of our national symbols. The blue-yellow flag, which combines the blue sky and golden wheat fields, has at least a thousand-year history and dates back to the times of Kyivan Rus, the Galicia-Volyn principality, and the period of the Cossack state. The combination of blue and yellow colors on the national flag has been observed since the middle of the 19th century.

Nowadays, the State Flag holiday is celebrated on July 24, and only in the capital at the municipal level. On this day in 1990, the blue-yellow flag was raised over the Kyiv city administration.

On August 23, 1991, after the failure of the putsch in Moscow, a group of people’s deputies brought the Ukrainian flag into the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada. Now this flag is kept in the museum of the Verkhovna Rada as a relic. On the next day, August 24, Ukraine declared its independence. On September 4, 1991, the flag flew over the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and already on January 28, 1992, it was officially approved as the official flag of Ukraine.

At the national level, the holiday was established by the Decree of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma No. 987/2004 of August 23, 2004 “On the Day of the State Flag of Ukraine”. This decree was supplemented by the Decree of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko No. 602/2009, which approved the raising of the flag of Ukraine on National Flag Day and during other public holidays and national events.

Since then, our flag has been raised in all cities and villages during public holidays and days of mourning.

The state flag was in the most extreme conditions – on the top of Everest, at the Antarctic station “Akademik Vernadskyi”, flew on a spaceship, climbed to the podium many times together with Olympic champions. Wherever it is, it is a symbol of pride for our country, a symbol of its courage and indomitability!

And today it is with our military on the front lines, in combat positions, on the shoulder chevrons of soldiers and on backpacks. Small blue-yellow flags can be seen in the windows of houses, in offices, and in children’s hands.

The flag of our state flies proudly over free and only liberated cities and villages, and the residents of the occupied territories are eagerly waiting for it to rise again in their settlements.

Today, during the brutal bloody war, the State Flag of Ukraine represents our hope and faith in Victory!