The History of the Ukrainian flag

The modern Ukrainian flag is very different from the one at the very beginning of Ukrainian history. It has changed through the ages, Ukraine was under the control of different countries, and because of this, the flag also changed. In this article, you will learn exactly how the Ukrainian flag changed its colors and a little bit of the history of Ukraine.

The beginning of the existence of the Ukrainian flag dates back to the times of Kyivan Rus (great empire in 988 which comprised the countries of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus). Then it was blue and featured a yellow lion as a symbol of strength and bravery.

Kyvian Rus was developing until 1710 year when the Cossacks came to power. The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Orthodox Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine. Unfortunately, there are no recorded official flags that existed between 988 and 1710, but then there were very fierce battles for lands with the Tatar-Mongol tribes and Ukrainan lands always passed either to the Tatar-Mongol or again to Kyvian Rus. So the flag changed many times.

In the times of the Hetmanship there were many atamans, and each ataman had his own flag. Ataman is the main person among the Cossacks. For example, with Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the flag was red and depicted an angel with a sword.  And with Taras Bulba the flag was blue and yellow and depicited an ataman.

Since 1848, Ukraine was part of Russia (then still the Russian Empire). So Ukrainian flags were like the ones in Russia. But in 1848, the modern Ukrainian flag was registered for the first time. In 1917, during the revolution, Ukrainians went to rallies with blue-yellow flag, and on August 24, 1991, the following flag became official.

  This article was written by one of our Ukrainian students