The first flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkSSR) was adopted on 10 March 1919 to serve as the symbol of state of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

. Details of the official flag changed periodically before the

break-up A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the termination of a relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a married couple, where a brea ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1991, but all had as their basis the red flag of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

. According to the decree of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet of Ukrainian SSR on 21 November 1949, the blue in the bottom symbolises the mightiness and beauty of the people, and the blue banner of

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmelnytskyi ( Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern ua, Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький; 6 August 1657) was a Ukrainian military commander and ...

Color scheme

History

Before this 1919 flag, a flag in 1918 was used with red and blue, with yellow stripes in the canton. The first flag was red with the gold

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

sans-serif letters У.С.С.Р. (''USSR'', acronym for ''Ukrayinskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Sovetskaya Respublika'' (Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic) in the Russian language). A decade later, the Ukrainian initials У.С.Р.Р. appeared (''USRR'', for ''Ukrayinsʹka Sotsialistychna Radyansʹka Respublika''). In the 1930s a gold border was added. In 1937, a new flag was adopted, with a small gold

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

added above the gold Cyrillic serif letters У.Р.С.Р. (the name had changed, transposing the second and third words). The Soviet Union and two of its republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia) all became members of the nascent

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN) in 1945. Since all of their flags were red with only small markings in the upper left corner, the UN demanded changes to the flags in 1949. To comply, the Ukrainian Soviet authorities dropped the lettering and added an azure horizontal stripe ( of the width). The Ukrainian SSR adopted this new design as its official flag on 5 July 1950. Other constituent

republics of the Soviet Union The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were National delimitation in the Soviet Union, national-based administrative units of ...

soon followed suit and customised the bottom third of their flags. While the Soviet flag was flown in the later months of 1991, even after the failed coup d'état, the blue and yellow flag, even though it was a criminal offense under the

Soviet law The Law of the Soviet Union was the law as it developed in the Soviet Union (USSR) following the October Revolution of 1917. Modified versions of the Soviet legal system operated in many Communist states following the Second World War—including ...

, was raised spontaneously throughout Ukraine by local activists between 14 March 1990 beginning at town of

Stryi Stryi ( uk, Стрий, ; pl, Stryj) is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine 65 km to the south of Lviv (in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains). It serves as the administrative cen ...

until its independence on 24 August 1991. The blue and yellow flag was provisionally adopted for official ceremonies in September 1991, although the Soviet-era flag officially remained until it was replaced on 28 January 1992. In 2015 the use of the red flag was recognized as a symbol of the totalitarian past and officially banned in Ukraine.

References

External links

Ukraine in the Soviet Union (early flags)
detailed history of flag designs {{Flags of Europe 1919 establishments in Ukraine

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

National symbols of Ukraine Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Color scheme

History

See also

References

External links