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Ukraine - Political Flags

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Last modified: 2014-09-20 by andrew weeks
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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

Zoltan Horvath, 4 March 2014

The flag of political party All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" was discussed earlier today at the FOTW-ml and its image was contributed by Zoltan Horvath. Here follows the contribution about the 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 Todorović, 9 March 2014

Flag of Social-National Party

Tomislav Todorović, 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 form 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 Todorović, 9 March 2014


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

Former flag


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?
Zach 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


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 Januart 2006

The inscription can be translated to english as "Yulia Timoshenko Fan Club of Donetsk".
Jorge Candeias. 9 Januart 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 photo correspondin 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 Oll&#eacute;, 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.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

Youth Nationalists Congress


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 4 words on the emblem on this flag, though I'm unable to read them.
Mariusz Borkowski, 30 June 2002