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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 Victor Lomantsov, 9 Januart 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
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 Dov Gutterman, 30 June 2002
Flag of "Congres 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 4 words on the
emblem on this flag, though I'm unable to read them.
Mariusz Borkowski, 30 June 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 26 Febuary 2002
Flag of Liberal Party of Ukraine (Liberalna Partiya Ukrayini)
- Adopted in 1993.
Source: Ukrainian bulletin "Znak".
Victor Lomantsov, 26 Febuary 2002
The Political Handbook of the World 1997 qualifies it among
the centrist and centrist-leftist groups.
Jarig Bakker, 26 Febuary 2002
image by Mikhail Revnivtsev, 2 May 2005
On <novy.tv>
(in Russian), there is a flag of Million Marihuana
March, which is planned to march on May, 7, 2005 in
Kiev, capital of Ukraine, in support of of legalization of
marihuana.
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 2 May 2005
Interesting that the design shows no hint as to what it's
about; most such flags and banners here have the marijuana leaves
prominently displayed.
Albert S. Kirsch, 3 May 2005
This march has no any relation to Parade of the Victory
(Pobedy), which will take place in Kiev and in Moscow on May, 9.
Besides, the mayor of Kiev yet has not given the sanction to
carrying out of this march in support of marihuana (in Ukraine,
as well as in Russia, marihuana is forbidden with other drugs).
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 3 May 2005
I believe this flag is based on the various other type of
"Rasta" flags that are sold in the US and other places.
Zachary Harden, 3 May 2005
I though the same: it seems to be a mix of the pan-african colors (red-yellow-green) and the
Garvey colors (red-black-green),
certainly based on their popularity among rastafarian (or
rastafarian-looking) circles.
The horizontal stripes may also be inspired in another pride and
protest flag: the gay pride rainbow flag.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 May 2005
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
image from <www.conference.osp-ua.info>,
located by Valentin Poposki, 6 October 2005
The symbols of the "National-Democratic United
Ukraine" are shown at <www.conference.osp-ua.info>.
Valentin Poposki, 6 October 2005
image from <www.nru.org.ua>,
located by Dov Gutterman, 10 August 2002
National People's Front of Ukraina "Rukh".
Jens Pattke and Victor Lomantsov, 11 May 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 23 Febuary 2002
Party of Muslims of Ukraine. Flag was adopted in 1997. Ratio
1:2. Width of green stripes equal to 1/10 of flag-width. The
emblem consists of green cyrillic letter "M" (stylized
to arabic) and black name of the party in ukrainian.
source: heraldry bulletin "Znak".
Victor Lomantsov, 23 Febuary 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 30 March 2006
Source: <www.vybir2006.org.ua>,
reported by M.Revnivtsev.
Victor Lomantsov, 30 March 2006
Previous Flags
image by António Martins, 1 December 2004
variant
image by António Martins, 1 December 2004
"Partiya rehioniv" (Party of regions) flag at <www.partyofregions.org.ua>.
It was founded in 1997. This is the party flag.
Dov Gutterman and Andriy Grechylo, 26 July 2004
"Party of Regions" represents generally Donetsk's
bandit clan. Victor Yanukovych is a member of Party of Regions.
Andriy Grechylo, 29 November 2004
I saw this flag many times in TV reports. But the flag always
was blue (not purple). Background is in darker shade then emblem
.Correct cyrillic name is "Ïàðò³ÿ
Ðåã³îí³â".
Victor Lomantsov, 29 November 2004
This flag is purple in official web-site, at printed
materials, also during the party congresses (in TV) etc.
Andriy Grechylo, 29 November 2004
image from <www.a-election.com.ua>,
located by Jens Pattke, 11 May 2002
Party of the Consciousness of the Third Millenium.
Jens Pattke, 11 May 2002
image by Zachary Harden, 6 January 2004
This is the flag of PNERU - Partiya Natsionalno-Ekonomichnoho
Rozvytku Ukrayiny (Party of the National and Economic Development
of Ukraine). Flag was designed by member of Ukrainian Heraldry
Society Oleksiy Kokhan.
Source: <www.obriy.pib.com.ua>.
Dov Gutterman and Andriy Grechylo, 26 July 2004
image by Anto'nio Martins, 28 July 2002
Slavic Party. Photo of the was located by Dov Gutterman at
<www.a-election.com.ua>.
Jens Pattke, 11 May 2002
I managed to gain access to the party website, and found that
the Slavic Party holds that Ukraine lacks the economic basis for
political independence, and should reunite with Russia and
Belarus. As far as I could see, only the triband is a
flag. The circular design is labeled "emblem."
John Ayer, 14 May 2002
The specs seem to be 2:3 = (2+6+2):15, with emblem and
lettering "Slavanskaa partia".
I guess this is not Ukrainian, but russian, and thus this slavic
party is rather a Russophile party (Soviet-nostalgic, monarchist,
ethnic Russian?).
Anto'nio Martins, 28 July 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 23 Febuary 2002
Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine. The flag was adopted in
1992. Rose is a traditional symbol of social-democrats, 7 stars
symbolize 7 letters in the word "Ukraine", blue and
yellow - national colours of Ukraine.
source: heraldry bulletin "Znak".
Victor Lomantsov, 23 Febuary 2002
From <www.brama.com>:
Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (Sotsial-Demokratychna Partiya
Ukrainy--SDPU) - Led by Verkhovna Rada deputy Yuriy Buzduhan, it
nominated only 127 candidates, few of whom are well-known.
Marchuk had originally appeared likely to run on the SDPU list
but chose the SDPU (o) instead (Vseukrainskiye Vedomosti, 21
October 1997). Buzduhan called the rival SDPU (o) not a social
democratic party but a "financial-petrol clan of Surkis and
Medvedchuk" (Vseukrainskiye Vedomosti, 21 October 1997).
Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the Lawyers Union, is No. 4 on the
SDPU (o) list, and Hryhoriy Surkis, head of Kiev's Dynamo soccer
club, is No. 5.
Jarig Bakker, 11 May 2002
image by Dov Gutterman, 4 June 2006
Symbols of the Political Party "Tretya Sila" (Third
Force) are at <tretja-sila.od.ua>.
Valentin Poposki, 25 May 2006
image by Victor Lomantsov, 19 August 2000
I found this photo
of a right-wing group in Ukraine at <dailynews.yahoo.com>
which states: " Members of the ultra right-wing nationalist
party, the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), carry a coffin,
with the body of their leader Anatoly Lupynos, and their
nationalist flags during a funeral procession in Kiev, Ukraine,
on Tuesday, February 8, 2000. Lupynos, one of the founders of
Ukraine's Popular Movement (Narodny Ruch) , who served 27 years
in Soviet-era prisons, died on Saturday, Feb. 5. He was 62. The
activists of UNA took part in the Russian-Chechen war against
Russia and took part in other armed conflicts, acting against the
Russians. (AP Photo/Viktor Pobedinsky) "
Steve Stringfellow , 13 Febuary 2000
Detailed information and images about this flag refered was
published recently in Flag Report
Jaume Olle, 20 Febuary 2000
Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) - The party was founded in
1990. The party flag is red with black cross (symbol of Cosacces)
and sign of "infinity". The sign is torn. It must
symbolize that the process of building of ukrainian state was
interrupted in the past.
Victor Lomantsov, 19 August 2000
image from <soskin.info>
A yellow-white-green horizontal tricolor with a large seal in
the middle (diameter slightly larger than the stripe height).
Party name written on the yellow and green stripes (two first
words on the yellow, and to last words on the green) with cased
serif dark blue letters, centered on the available space:
Oe?a?inuea Iao?iiaeuia Eiina?aaoeaia ia?o?y (Ukrayins'ka
Natsional'na Konservatyvna Partiya
Anto'nio Martins, 26 July 2004
Narodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny (National Movement of Ukraine) use a
national blue-yellow with another kind of Trident in canton as
seen at <www.city.gov.te.ua>.
Dov Gutterman and Andriy Grechylo, 21 July 2004
image from <www.flags.com.ua>,
located by Dov Gutterman, 26 June 2002
Organization of Ukrainian nationalists.
Victor Lomantsov, 26 June 2002
Ukrayinska Narodna Partiya (Ukrainian National Party) - as
seen in photo at <www.city.gov.te.ua>.
Dov Gutterman and Andriy Grechylo, 21 July 2004
image by Victor Lomantsov, 19 August 2000
Ukrainian National Self-Defence (UNSO), an armed wing of UNA. The flag is red square with black
"cross potent". There is a white trident in the centre
of the cross and the letters "UNSO" on the arms of the
cross.
Victor Lomantsov, 19 August 2000
image by Jaume Olle, 19 August 2000
I believe that UNSO has a 2:3 flag. Here is a photo
Jaume Olle, 19 August 2000
May be it is unofficial variant ? - The official flag have the
ratio 1:1.
Source: Bulletin of Ukrainian Heraldry Society
"Znak" No 7 (1994)
Victor Lomantsov, 20 August 2000
2:3
image by Ivan Sache, 16 November 2001
1:2
image by Ivan Sache, 17 November 2001
The Ukrainian People Democratic Party seems to use a
horizontally divided blue-yellow-green flag. The party website
shows the logo of the party with these three colours and
something looking like a flag (on the rigth middle of the page, 7
cm below (PDP). see: <ndp.org.ua>.
I don't know anything about this party. The top two-thirds of the
flag are evidently related to the Ukrainian colours. I assume it
is anti-Communist or at least not Communist since red colour is
not used in the flag.
Ivan Sache, 16 November 2001
The Political Handbook of The World, 1997 has:
"Popular-Democratic Party of Ukraine (Narodno-Demokratychna
Partiya
Ukrainy - NDPU). The NDPU was registered in June 1996 as the
result of a merger of centrist political forces, including the
Party for Democratic Revival of Ukraine (partiya Demokratychna
Vidrodzhennia Ukrainy - PDVU) and the Labor Congress of Ukraine
(Trudova Kogres Ukrainy - TKU). The PDVU had earlier formed the
core of the New Ukraine (NU) center-left alliance and had won
four seats in the 1994 ballotting. In 1998 the NDPU got 28 seats.
Leader: Anatoliy Matviyenko".
Jarig Bakker, 16 November 2001
Jaume informed me off-list that the correct proportions of the
PNP flag could be 1:2. From the "image" of the flag on
the party website, it is "between" 2:3 and 1:2. I
initially made it 2:3 according to the Ukrainian natonal flag.
Ivan Sache, 17 November 2001
The Ukrainian inscription of PDVU by Jarig is not correct. The
name in Ukrainian looks like Democratic Party of Revival...
(correct name is Party of Democratic Revival..., of course).
Correct Ukrainian name is - Partiya Demokratychnogo Vidrodzhennya
Ukrainy. The ukrainian name of TKU is not correct too. Must be -
Trudovyi Kongres Ukrainy
Regulation on symbols of the People Democratic Party was adopted
on 17, June, 2000 by Executive Committee of the party.
Victor Lomantsov, 2 December 2001
Gaceta de Banderas 79 show a dark blue flag bearing a white
disk with a black bird, that is reported by Grechilo, being the
flag of the Republican Party. I have a photo of a demostration
where is a blue flag (but light blue) bearing a yellow disk with
a dark device (that is not visible). Anyone know if this can be
same flag (in a variant version) or other different party flag?
Jaume Olle', 26 July 2003
image by Jorge Candeias, 16 December 2004
I saw a red flag with a communist-style symbol in the canton:
the outline of half a book, a hammer and a sickle-shaped spike.
After a long search, I finally found an evolution of the same
symbol at <www.ukraine.ru>
and it turns out to belong to a Ukrainian party, post-communist,
called (in russian) "Sotsialistitcheskaya Partiya
Ukraine", or Ukrainian Socialist Party.
Jorge Candeias, 16 December 2004
It is an actual flag of SPU (Sotsialistychna partiya
Ukrayiny). This party was founded in 1991. Leader - Oleksandr
Moroz.
Andriy Grechylo, 16 December 2004
image by Victor Lomantsov, 19 June 2002
Flag of ukrainian party "Unity"
("Yednist") on the party web-site <www.yednist.org.ua>.
Victor Lomantsov, 19 June 2002
image by Victor Lomantsov, 6 Febuary 2002
I lovated the flag of the party at <www.trud.org.ua>.
Dov Gutterman, 27 January 2002
The first line says "Politichna Partiya" (Political
Party); the second says "Trudova Ukraina" (Working
Ukraine).
Joe McMillan, 5 Febuary 2002
The party was instituted on March, 19, 2000. According to
WEB-site of the party: Flag of the party is blue with orange
horizontal stripe. Motto 2:3. Blue inscription "POLITICAL
PARTY" (Helios Ext. Bold font) is placed on the orange
stripe.White inscription "WORKING UKRAINE" (Futuris
Black font) is placed at the bottom of the field.
Blue stripe symbolizes validity, faith, love to majestic,
cleanliness, transformation. Blue - colour of devoted service to
true and aspiration to self-expression. Orange - colour of
harvest, fruits of ground, evolved under beams of the sun, colour
of action, enthusiasm and freedom.White - this colour is a base
of all paints, it symbolizes tolerance.
Victor Lomantsov, 6 Febuary 2002
From <www.brama.com>:
Working Ukraine (Vyborchyy Blok "Trudova Ukraina") - It
was formed by the Civil Congress of Ukraine (Hromadyanskyy
Konhres Ukrainy) and Ukrainian Justice Party (Ukrainska Partiya
Spravedlyvosti). The Civil Congress, based in Donetsk, was
created in 1992 by representatives of the east and south to
defend the Russian language and promote closer integration with
Russia. (see Note 12) The bloc put up a slate of 117, including
Kiev City Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, Minister of Foreign
Economic Ties Serhiy Osyka, and first assistant to the premier
Andriy Derkach. The anti- Kuchma paper Silski Visti (29 January)
asserted that Working Ukraine is filled with people "who
worked or are working in the president's Administration or
cabinet" and is a "'fifth column' in the veterans'
movement." The list is headed by veterans (No. 1 and No. 3)
and includes a total of 25 members of veterans' organizations.
Jarig Bakker, 11 May 2002
image from <www.mu.org.ua>,
located by Valentin Poposki, 25 May 2006
It seems that the Political Party "Moloda Ukraina"
has a new flag as appear at <www.mu.org.ua>.
Valentin Poposki, 25 May 2006
Previous Flag
image from <www.flags.com.ua>,
located by Dov Gutterman, 26 June 2002
Party "Moloda Ukrayina" (Young Ukraine).
Victor Lomantsov, 26 June 2002
image by Eugene Ipavec, 22 August 2005
Mr. Denis Sacharnych reported at the Russian E-mail Forum
RussoVex about news item from <www.rian.ru>:
On August, 10, 2005 there was a picket of the Euroasian Youth
Union (EYU) near the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow,
asking for the resignation of the president of Ukraine, Mr.
Victor Yushchenko, as well that Ukrainewill join USA as its 52-nd
state. A new blue-yellow
star-spangled flag for Ukraine was shown at <www.evrazia.org>.
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 11 August 2005
The political point is well made, and it's interesting to
reflect for how many countries this visual metaphor would work -
Ukraine's unique yellow and blue are immediately obvious in the
new context. But it's a pity that, having gone to the trouble of
making the new flag, they didn't pay more attention to the
details. Unless there's a stripe folded under at the bottom,
there are only twelve stripes, and - coming close to defeating
the object of the exercise, it seems to me - there are only 35
stars.
André Coutanche, 11 August 2005
There are 7 columns of 5 stars and 12 stripes. If Ukraine is
no. 52, why are there 35 stars? And for that matter, the 52nd
state?
Was something annexed while I wasn't looking?
Eugene Ipavec, 11 and 22 August 2005
12 strripes would make sense, since it's a parody of the
Ukrainian flag, so it's blue-yellow repeated. Looking at the
picture, it doesn't quite look right: the stars don't seem
uniform (as to be expected from a one-off protest flag), for
example the middle star on the second row seems to be upside
down, the stars closest to the fly on the third and fourth row
are definitely rotated in opposition to each other, and the first
star on the bottom row again looks to be upside down. The 35
stars are indeed a mystery, as the US flag has 50, and Ukraine
has half that many subdivisions.
David Kendall, 23 August 2005
I noticed some of that, actually, but assumed that the
protesters had just been sloppy, instead of there being intent
behind the changes. I suppose there's a broader point here.
Eugene Ipavec, 24 August 2005
It was asked about an Ukrainian orange-white-blue flag as
follows:
"I'm french and I'm looking for a flag. A friend saw a flag
on a licence car plate from ukraine, from the top : orange (or
yellow may be) - white - blue"
In my city I can see frequentky Ukranian cars and they bear the
national flag and the quoted flag is unknown. But if was in a
shape of an oval perhaps it is a independentist flag (Ruthenian
or Lemko or other?).
Jaume Olle, 8 September 2000
1) The German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel"
sometimes contains photos with flags. At issue 8 of 2001 ( p.
139) you can see a demonstration in Kiev (Ukraine) showing at
least three types of flags:
- Flag of the UNSO.
- A pale blue flag with some yellow device. Maybe OUN.
- A yellow flag with a variant of the Ukrainian trident on a blue
field.
See <www.smev.de>.
Marcus Schmoger, 28 Febuary 2001
2) At Issue 12 (March 19th) at p. 230: Demonstration of
Ukrainian opposition against president Kuchma; visible are:
- Flags of the UNSO
- Blue flags (unknown) with white writings.
- Yellow flags with some devices (unknown).
See: <www.smev.de>
Marcus Schmoger, 20 March 2001