National Flag Day is celebrated today in Ukraine. VIDEO
On August 23, Ukraine celebrates the National Flag Day.
As Censor.NET informs with reference to Ukrinform, the holiday was established "to honor the centuries-old history of Ukrainian statehood, the state symbols of independent Ukraine and to educate citizens to respect the state symbols of Ukraine" by the Presidential decree of August 23, 2004. In 2009, this decree was amended and an annual official flag-raising ceremony was established on August 23 throughout Ukraine.
Among the flags of Kievan Rus, the red color prevailed - the most convenient for signaling during battle. However, the national (state) flag in its modern sense can be considered to have appeared during the existence of the Cossack state. The most famous of the Hetman flags are associated with the name of Bohdan Khmelnytsky (it was white). The combination of blue and yellow colors on the national flag can be observed from the middle of the 19th century.
During the "Spring of Nations" in 1848, the Main Russian Council declared the ancient coat of arms of the Romanovych princes to be the all-Ukrainian coat of arms. The Lviv Lands and Rus Voivodeship depicted a golden lion resting on a rock on a blue background. At the same time, according to heraldic customs, a combination of yellow and blue stripes on a rectangular cloth was established.
The approval of the blue-yellow flag as the national flag took place with the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). Then, in the history of Ukraine, there was a period of red "hammer and sickle", and for blue and yellow they were sent to prisons.
In recent times, the national blue-yellow flag was officially flown for the first time at the town hall of Stryi on March 14, 1990. In Kyiv, the flag was raised over the city hall later - on July 24, 1990.
On August 23, 1991, a group of people's deputies brought the blue-yellow Ukrainian flag into the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada, and on September 4, it was solemnly raised over the parliament building.
After the beginning of Russian aggression, the blue-yellow flag became a symbol of struggle and resistance to invaders.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated the Ukrainian people on National Flag Day by posting a video:
The Head of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, congratulated Ukrainians on the holiday:
"Our Flag knows the whole world! And since February 24, it has become a symbol not only of Ukraine but also a symbol of freedom, indomitable spirit, and struggle of the whole world. Speeches are made with blue and yellow, they perform on stages and dress in its colors," Stefanchuk emphasized.
"And I believe," remarked the Head of the Verkhovna Rada, "that the day will come when our Flag will return to all Ukrainian territories, including Crimea and Donbas. And it will fly over every building!"
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak congratulated Ukrainians on the National Flag Day.
"Our Ukrainian flag will flutter in every Ukrainian city and village. The Russian enemy wanted to deprive us of our freedom. Slaves are afraid of the flags of a free state. But we will send our enemies to their isolated country without a future. And Ukraine and our people will always be free," Yermak said.
He emphasized that our flag is a symbol of a free man, the struggle for freedom, the personification of unity, honor, and dignity. Blue and yellow are the colors of the Ukrainian soul. It has strength and courage.
"Dear Ukrainians, hang the flag from your window today or tie a blue and yellow ribbon on your arm. We are invincible," wrote the head of the PO.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal congratulated Ukrainians on National Flag Day.
"Blue is the color of a clear, peaceful sky, and yellow is the color of fertile wheat and rye fields. At the same time, these colors have become the personification of bravery, courage, and indomitability. They carry pride for the state and its defenders, comfort, peace for Ukrainian families, and hope for those who lost their homes due to evil will. Hope that the Ukrainian flag will once again fly over their city or village. In Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Melitopol, Sevastopol, Yalta. In every settlement where the enemy has temporarily settled. Until then, in our hearts the flag of Ukraine flies, we cannot be broken," Shmyhal noted.
According to him, the Ukrainian flag, like the Ukrainian soul, is multifaceted. It not only preserves the memory of the glorious past of our state but also symbolizes the heroism of the present.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, congratulated Ukrainians on the National Flag Day by posting a photo of the tower of the Russian T-72 B3, destroyed by fighters of the 93rd mechanized brigade in the village of Husarivka, the Kharkiv region.
