A symbol of Ukraine — its sovereignty and unity, its centuries-old statehood tradition and military valor. Under blue-and-yellow banners, Ruthenian knights marched to the Battle of Grunwald in the fifteenth century. Blue and yellow flags flew above Cossack cities from Sudzha to Mariupol in the eighteenth century. These colors became a symbol of national revival in the nineteenth century. Under them, the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen fought in the First World War. Blue-and-yellow banners were raised over Kyiv, Lviv, Bakhmut, and Sevastopol in 1918. Under them, Ukrainian nationalists of the mid-twentieth century fought for independence. And with the restoration of independence, the blue-and-yellow flag rose over the whole of Ukraine.
It is the symbol of Ukraine that so burns the eyes of Russian occupiers. People are imprisoned and tortured for this flag; it is torn down and painted over. Russian soldiers are sent to certain death simply to remove a Ukrainian flag from a building in a devastated city and raise their own in its place, if only for a few hours. Yet all their frenzied hatred toward our symbols will not force Ukrainians to renounce their flag, their independence, their freedom, or their ideals.
Fighters from free Chernihiv and Odesa, Lutsk and Zaporizhzhia, stand alongside those from temporarily occupied Luhansk and Simferopol, Enerhodar and Mariupol. Together, they are doing everything to ensure that the blue-and-yellow banner flies over every Ukrainian city and village. We inherited it from those who came before us, and we will pass it on to those who will build and defend Ukraine in the future.
A symbol of our resolve. Our shield against the darkness.
Happy Day of the National Flag of Ukraine!