Ukraine – Political Flags (original) (raw)


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Ukrainian "Patriotic Flag"

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

All-Ukrainian Party "New force"

The flag of the All-Ukrainian Party "New force" is at www.novasyla.org.ua.
Victor Lomantsov, 10 August 2002

All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda"

formerly Social-National Party of Ukraine

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

Variants

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, likehere and here.
There is also a variant with both rows of text in yellow and smaller-sized row beneath the larger-sized one, as shownhere 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 seenhere and here.
Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2014

Flag of Social-National Party

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:

  1. All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" at Wikipedia (in English)
  2. All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" at Wikipedia (in Ukrainian)
  3. Photos of the flag of Social-National Party of Ukraine dating from 1999–2001 http://did-panas23.livejournal.com/196443.html?thread=872027
  4. Article about the 20th anniversary of the party (in Ukrainian), with images of the original and current party flags http://initiativenational.blogspot.com/2011/09/20-n.html
  5. Photos of the Social-Nationalist flag, used in 2009:http://www.reactor.org.ua/main/2667-zvit-z-marshu-26-grudnya-v-ternopoli.html
  6. Photo of the Social-Nationalist flag from 2009-05-17 (note the date inserted to the photo by camera):http://f-lite.ru/lfp/i039.radikal.ru/0905/da/db634e01f27f.jpg/htm Tomislav Todorovic, 9 March 2014

See also: Patriot of Ukraine

Batkivshchyna

image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 March 2014

Batkivshchyna or the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" (Ukrainian: Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина", Vseukrayins'ke Obyednannya Bat’kivshchyna) is a political party in Ukraine, led by Yulia Tymoshenko.[1]

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

Former flag

image by Dov Gutterman, 10 March 2003

At story.news.yahoo.comthere 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

Block of Yulia Timoshenko

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

Christian-Democratic Party of Ukraine

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

Communist Party of Ukraine

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 photocorresponding 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

Congress of Ukrainian Nationalism (Kongres Ukrayinskykh Natsionalistiv)

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.uadoesn'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

Youth Nationalists Congress

image by Zachary Harden, 4 February 2025

At www.mnk.iptelecom.net.ua (picture), 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.gifflag 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