Last modified: 2024-02-03 by martin karner
Keywords: ukraine |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
I've recently moved to Ukraine from the United States and I've
come accross a flag question. I've seen for sale on the street
and being used in some rallies an alternate version of the
Ukrainian flag. It has the same design and proportions as the
current Ukrainian flag, but the top half of the flag is black (as
opposed to blue) and the bottom half of it is red (as opposed to
yellow). In the upper left hand corner of the flag is a gold
colored Ukrainian trident. I don't know if it means anything or
not, but I've noticed this flag showing up during televion
coverage of rallies taking place in the Western half of the
country, which is more ethnically Ukrainian than the center or
eastern half. I've asked people selling this flag what the
difference is between this flag and the offical blue and yellow
one, and no one really seems to be able to give me a straight
answer.
Mike Connor, 18 October 2004
This is the Ukrainian patriotic flag. Red and black flags were
used by some Ukrainian scouts organizations in 1930s. Red is a
symbol of blood and struggle for independence, and black is a
symbol of reach land and memory for heroes. After 1941 one branch
of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists declared red and black
as colours of its organization. Now some political parties and
movements use red and black, but generally this kind of flag is
known as "Patriotic Flag". It is not alternative for
National blue and yellow colours.
Andriy Grechylo, 18 October 2004
The flag of the All-Ukrainian Party "New
force" is at www.novasyla.org.ua.
Victor Lomantsov, 10 August 2002
image by Zoltan Horvath
The white text over the yellow one is Vseukrayinske obyednannia meaning
"All-Ukrainian Union". It is part of the full name of this party: Vseukrayinske obyednannia "Svoboda"
(All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom").
Zoltan Horvath, 4 March 2014
#19
#19a
#19b
images located by Esteban Rivera
In picture #19 you can see a blue horizontal background with a yellow fist in the middle, plus an
inscription in Cyryllic (unidentifiable to me): captioned: "A man attaches a red and black flag,
widely used by Ukrainian nationalists, to a lamp post in front of the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers
building in the early morning hours during a rally to support EU integration in Kiev December 5, 2013."
(picture had to be removed)
and picture #19a which is captioned "Men look at a flag being attached to a lamp post as they gather
in front of the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers building, during a rally to support EU integration in Kiev
December 5, 2013." (picture had to be removed) – Source: RT: Question More Website
Another picture on Twitter (#19b) shows the same flag (fifth from left to right).
Esteban Rivera, 3 March 2014
This is the flag of the All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom",
a far-right party which is a member of the Alliance of European National Movements.
The party was founded in 1995 as the Social-National Party of Ukraine and adopted the present name
in 2004.
Tomislav Todorovic, 3 March 2014
Zoltan Horvath, 4 March 2014
The flag of political party All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" was
discussed today at the FOTW-ml and its image was contributed
by Zoltan Horvath (see above). There are also variants of
the flag:
The flag usually has the ratio 1:1, as shown here,
here,
here,
here,
here and
here.
On some of the flags with this ratio, both inscriptions are in yellow,
like
here and
here.
There is also a variant with both rows of text in yellow and
smaller-sized row beneath the larger-sized one, as shown
here and
here.
The most distinctive flag variant has the ratio 2:3, but the enlarged
text, all in yellow, occupies hoist and center and a smaller hand is
in the fly. This flag can be seen
here and
here.
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2014
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2014
All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" was founded in Lviv in 1991 (not 1995,
as stated in the messages listed above) as the Social-National Party
of Ukraine (Sotsial-natsional'na partiya Ukrayiny) and officially
registered in 1995. Its original flag was yellow, charged with a large
wolf-hook (Wolfsangel) in blue, which was stylized and officially
described as the monogram IN (early medieval forms of Cyrillic letters
ІН); these letters stood for the motto "Ideya Natsiyi",
meaning "National Idea" (literally, "Idea of the Nation"). In 2004,
the party adopted its present name and flag as a part of distancing
from its original pro-Nazi ideology called the Social-Nationalism,
although its stances and activities are still often described as
rather extremist (it has the observer status in the Alliance of
European National Movements, whose members are the far-right parties
from the European Union member countries). The hand depicted on the
current flag is displaying the "trident salute" used by the Ukrainian
nationalists, named after the trident symbol from the national coat of
arms. The original party flag is still often used by a number of
extremist groups which keep declaring themselves as the
Social-Nationalists, although they usually have the flags of their own
as well, using this flag as the original symbol of their ideology –
something they all have in common.
Sources:
image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 March 2014
As the core party of the former Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Batkivshchyna has had representation in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) since Yulia Tymoshenko set up the parliamentary faction Batkivshchyna in March 1999. After the November 2011 banning of the participation of blocs of political parties in parliamentary elections "Fatherland" became a major force in Ukrainian politics independently. In the 2012 parliamentary elections the party also added the name "United Opposition" to its name and it aligning several other parties under its banner during this election in which it won 101 parliamentary seats. In June 2013 several of these parties merged with Batkivshchyna. Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in jail in October 2011 on abuse of power charges, held captive in Kharkiv until February 22, 2014. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batkivshchyna
The flag is a white horizontal flag, with the logo in the middle, as seen here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BakRN8ZIcAAWkfS.jpg:large (third flag from left to right).
Sources:
http://rt.com/news/urkaine-eu-protests-updates-548/
http://rt.com/files/news/21/56/40/00/ukr-2.jpg (third flag from left
to right).
http://rt.com/news/urkaine-eu-protests-updates-548/
For additional information go to: Batkivshchyna (the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"), official website: http://byut.com.ua/
Esteban Rivera, 3 March 2014
image located by William Garrison,
24 February 2022
Found on eBay:
A white-field flag of the Ukraine "Batkivshchyna" political
party; Party leader: Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko; c. 1999.
Bill
Garrison, 24 February 2022
image located by William Garrison,
24 February 2022
Found on eBay:
A white-field Ukraine flag of the "Batkivshchyna" political
party; Party leader: Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko; c. 2000?
Bill
Garrison, 24 February 2022
image by Dov Gutterman, 10 March 2003
At story.news.yahoo.com
there is a photo of "Members of reformist Yulia Tymoshenko's
party smile holding their party flags during a rally in downtown
Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, March 9, 2003, with the ancient St. Sophia
Cathedral in the background. Thousands of Ukrainians braved
biting cold and icy conditions Sunday to take to the streets
nationwide calling for scandal-tainted President Leonid Kuchma to
resign. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky)"
The flag has many different shades, which one is true?
Zachary Harden, 10 March 2003
My guess is that party flags do not have "official"
specifications or construction sheets. If I had to guess I'd say
the brighter B-Y-R are what the party members have in mind; the
pastel shades (the faded blue and pink seem to go together)
suggest faded specimens.
Note the resemblance to the flag of Galicia;
I wonder if it's just coincidence ...
Al Kirsch, 10 March 2003
According to Yulia Tymoshenko's website at www.tymoshenko.com.ua,
her party's name is Batkivshchyna, which is translated
"Motherland".
John Ayer, 10 March 2003
The third stripe of this flag is not red but raspberry-red.
Raspberry colour in Ukraine = symbol of cossacks.
Victor Lomantsov, 10 March 2003
image located by Esteban Rivera, 31 December 2020
I just came to this picture featuring what seems to be a variant of this
party flag, hung downwards (that is, inverted colors from top to bottom, red,
yellow and blue) featuring the State Symbol in blue
outline towards the hoist, in the blue stripe. The top red stripe reads (in
Ukrainian) "Україна – це Європа" (English: Ukraine is Europe) first phrase on
top and "Україна! Грузія з вами" (English: Ukraine, Georgia is with you) second
phrase on bottom.
Esteban Rivera, 31 December 2020
A closer look at this photo reveals that this is not one object, but two: the
flag of Ukraine with the trident on the top field and a dark red banner with the
inscriptions. The two are obviously attached to each other, so that the flag
seems to be "hung" upon the banner, but the shadow is cast upon the blue area by
the red one, which does not exist at the edge between blue and yellow areas,
revealing what belongs to which object.
Tomislav Todorovic, 1
January 2021
image by Victor Lomantsov, 9 January 2006
Flag of "Block of Yulia Timoshenko" (Donetsk section) according to a photo
located by M.Revnivtsev at dii.novosti.dn.ua.
Victor Lomantsov, 9 January 2006
The inscription can be translated to English as "Yulia
Timoshenko Fan Club of Donetsk".
Jorge Candeias, 9 January 2006
The flag of the Christian-Democratic
Party of Ukraine (Khrystyyans'ko-Demokratychna Partiya Ukrainy) can be seen at cdpu.org.ua.
Dov Gutterman, 27 January 2002
From www.brama.com:
Christian-Democratic Party of Ukraine (Khrystyyansko-Demokratychna Partiya Ukrainy) – a small but
long-established party headed by Vitaliy Zhuravskyy, it has
nominated only 100 candidates, few of whom are well known.
Jarig Bakker, 11 May 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 5 May 2008
There are some pictures from May day demonstrations at www.svd.se.
In the first picture is
a flag with the Hammer & Sicle and some other symbol. It is
from Kiev in Ukraine.
Elias Granqvist, 2 May 2008
In my collection there's some photos of several Ukrainian
Communist parties. I have a photo
corresponding to the reported one. Here the emblem is white but I
have another photo where it is yellow and I assume that both
colors are used.
Jaume Ollé, 4 May 2008
Flag of Communist Party of Ukraine. They use different flags:
with yellow or white letters, with full name of the party or with
abbreviation.
Victor Lomantsov, 5 May 2008
image by Dov Gutterman, 30 June 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 22 July 2014
Flag of "Congress of Ukrainian Nationalism" Movement at www.a-election.com.ua.
Jens Pattke, 11 May 2002
At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua
– Emblem of Ukrainian Nationalists Organization. The acronym is:
OUN.
At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua/symvolika
– Flag of Ukrainian Nationalists Organization.
Something may have changed: The emblem at www.a-election.com.ua
doesn't include the "OUN" acronym, and the name found
there is definitely "Congress" (Ukrainian acronym:
KUN),
not "Organization" (Ukrainian acronym: OUN). A
minor change of the name and emblem lately?
Mariusz Borkowski, 30 June 2002
image from www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua
At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua,
one can see the plain red-black flag at the bottom, and the same
flag charged with emblem at the top.
The site is in Ukrainian so I can only guess that either it is
flags of two related movements or that this movement changed its
symbol and flag to the upper ones.
Dov Gutterman, 25 June 2002
At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua/mkun.gif
– emblem of Youth Nationalists Congress, youth ally of CUN. The
words on an emblem: MOLODIZHNIY NACIONALISTICHNIY KONGRIES (Youth
Nationalists Congress).
At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua/mnk_fl.gif
flag of Youth Nationalists Congress there are four words on the
emblem on this flag, though I'm unable to read them.
Mariusz Borkowski, 30 June 2002
