The State Flag of Ukraine

Various types of flags were used in various periods of Ukrainian history. The earliest mention of the modern national colors of Ukraine dates back to the period of Hetman State and is found in the Lviv Chronicle of the 17th century. Supposedly, the coat of arms of the city of Lviv, in yellow and blue colors, was granted to the city by Prince Lev. Yellow and blue also appeared in the coat of arms of the "Ruthenian Voyevodstvo (Province)" which was part of Poland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The description of some military flags from the times of the Hetman State (after the Periaslav Council of 1654) mention azure as the color of the flag cloth bearing different embroidered emblems and mottoes. Along with azure, often in combination with yellow, the favorite colors of the Kozak state were crimson and red.

The heraldic conception of national colors that had been passed down from ancient times had been lost. Instead, blue was justified as being the color of the sky and yellow as the color of the wheat fields. On March 22, 1918 the Ukrainian Central Rada simultaneously adopted the yellow-and-blue flag and the trident as the national coat of arms. On November 12, 1918, the government of the Western Ukrainian National Republic also adopted these colors for its state flag. In accordance with the resolution of the Ukrainian National Rada of June 27, 1949, the state flag of the Ukrainian National Republic consisted of two equal horizontal stripes: blue at the top and yellow at the bottom.

When Ukraine declared its independence in 1991, it adopted a new National Flag on January 28, 1992 - a horizontally 2-striped flag. The upper stripe, blue, signifying the open sky and the bottom yellow stripe, symbolizing the wheat fields of Ukraine.