On January 28, 1992, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine officially approved the blue-and-yellow flag as the State Flag of Ukraine. This decision was an important stage in the restoration of the centuries-old history of Ukrainian statehood after the declaration of independence on August 24, 1991.
The yellow-blue colors of the state symbols of independent Ukraine have deep historical roots. Their combination is recorded in the symbols of Rus, in the coats of arms and banners of medieval cities and urban heraldry of the early modern era. Since the 18th century, the regimental and hundred Cossack flags of the Zaporozhian Army were made of blue cloth, on which a cross, stars, weapons, and figures of saints were painted in yellow paint.
The adoption of the blue-yellow combination as the Ukrainian national colors occurred during the European «Spring of Nations.» For the first time, such a flag was hoisted in June 1848 at the Lviv City Hall, and during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921, the blue-yellow banner became the state flag of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, a symbol of sovereignty and the desire for one’s own state.
The Soviet totalitarian regime suppressed and banned national symbols. The blue-and-yellow flag was declared "bourgeois-nationalist", its use was persecuted and punished. At the same time, it remained a sign of resistance, a symbol of the struggle for freedom, in the Ukrainian underground, in emigration, in the dissident movement of the second half of the 20th century.
The return of the blue-and-yellow flag to public space in the late 1980s was a vivid manifestation of national revival. On July 24, 1990, such a flag was raised over the Kyiv City Council, it was a symbolic event for the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine on July 16, 1990, and after the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, the blue-and-yellow banner naturally acquired the status of the State Flag.
The adoption of the flag in January 1992 demonstrated the continuity of the modern Ukrainian state with the traditions of the Ukrainian People's Republic and previous stages of Ukrainian statehood. It was not only a legal act, but also a symbolic return to historical memory, interrupted by decades of imperial and Soviet rule.
The National Flag of Ukraine is a sign of the unity of Ukrainian lands and citizens regardless of region, language, or origin. In different historical periods, it united Ukrainians in the pursuit of freedom, and today, its waving over the territory of Ukraine is a symbol of sovereignty, invincibility, and shared responsibility for the future of the country.
In the 21st century, in the conditions of armed aggression by the Russian Federation, the blue-and-yellow flag again became the target of the enemy, because it is a marker of Ukrainian identity, a symbol of the resistance with which Ukrainian soldiers defend the state, the right to be free in a united Ukraine.
The National Flag of Ukraine is not just a combination of colors. It is a sign of historical memory of the struggle of previous generations and confirmation of the irreversibility of the aspirations of Ukrainians on the path to a united state.
Based on materials from the Institute of National Remembrance