Flag of Ukraine

What the flag means

No official text gives the colours a meaning. A common reading is a blue sky above yellow fields. Blue and yellow also appear in older Galician heraldry: the arms of Lviv show a gold lion on blue.

History

The Supreme Ruthenian Council in Lviv adopted a blue and yellow banner on 22 April 1848. The Ukrainian People's Republic made a blue and yellow flag official on 22 March 1918, and Soviet rule later banned it. It was flown at the parliament building in Kyiv on 4 September 1991, and the Verkhovna Rada adopted it as the state flag on 28 January 1992. Article 20 of the constitution describes it, and the standard DSTU 4512:2006 sets the shades.

The Day of the National Flag, 23 August, has been marked since 2004. It falls the day before Independence Day on 24 August.

Earlier flags of Ukraine

1. 1949–1991Ukrainian SSR: red over a light blue band, with a gold hammer and sickle

Flags of Ukraine's neighbours

• Belarus
• Hungary
• Moldova
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Slovakia