The history of the Ukrainian flag, like all Ukrainians, is shrouded in myths and lies and is based on historical rigging and fantastic nonsense. The main thesis of the created myth is that “the yellow-blue colors symbolized the Kiev state, … over time were revived on the coats of arms of Ukrainian cities, … almost all coats of arms of the cities of the Kiev region and Ukraine as a whole were framed with yellow-blue flowers, … from the 18th century regimental and centennial Cossack flags of the Zaporozhye Army are increasingly made of blue cloth …"
Officially, the meaning of blue and yellow colors on the flag is traditionally interpreted as a combination of a clear, peaceful cloudless sky over the yellow color of a grain field - a symbol of peaceful labor and prosperity.
But even a superficial examination of this legend reveals the absurdity of pseudo-historical statements. Take, for example, Kievan Rus, although it has nothing to do with modern Ukraine. What colors of banners prevailed in the ancient Russian principalities?
In these principalities, banners were the symbols of princely power, and from the 9th century on the lands that are now part of Ukraine, red, crimson, white, less often blue and green colors, but not yellow-blue, have always dominated in symbolism. For example, the Russian units that participated in the Battle of Grunwald against the Teutonic Order in 1410, marched with banners of different colors. The yellow-blue color was peculiar only to Lvov, in the rest of the detachments other colors of banners prevailed. So the lie about the dominance of the blue-yellow color of banners in Kievan Rus is far-fetched.
If we take the period of the Cossack region, then all statements about the yellow-blue Cossack banners also turn out to be a lie. On the banners of the Little Russian Cossacks, who considered and called themselves Russians, the historical colors of Russia prevailed. Bohdan Khmelnitsky went into battle with a white banner in his left hand, followed by two general cornet with loose purple and white banners.
There is not a word about the yellow color and the trident either on the warrant officers of the regiments and hundreds of the left-bank hetmanate and on the flags of the regiments of the Slobozhanshchina. To distinguish Cossack regiments and hundreds in battle, flags of different colors were used. This was not caused by their national differences, but by the military necessity to determine the place in the battle of this or that regiment or hundreds. So attempts to trace the history of the Ukrainian flag from the flags of hundreds of Cossacks and regiments is the blatant ignorance of their authors.
Where did the yellow-blue flag come from in Ukraine? It turns out that this myth, like everything "Ukrainian", was born in the Austrian at that time Galicia and has nothing to do with the history of the Ukrainian lands. This flag is not so ancient and it appeared in the middle of the 19th century. The combination of the yellow-blue color of the banners is characteristic of the provinces of the Austrian Habsburg Empire - Dolmatia, Lower Austria, Galicia and Lodomeria and Rus-Ruthenia. All these lands were Austrian provinces and had nothing to do with big Russia. The Galician Rusyns received a flag of this color from the hands of the Austrian royal family for their faithful service.
In 1848, a revolution broke out in Austria, and the emperor attracted the Ruthenians of Galicia to suppress it, who showed themselves well as punishers against the rebels. For loyal service to Franz Joseph, they were honored with the last nickname “Tyroleans of the Middle East” and he granted them a yellow-blue flag as a symbol of the Galician regiment, and the Russian Council created by the Austrian authorities and loyal to them approved this flag as a symbol of Galicia and called on the Rusyns to support emperor. According to one of the versions, the mother of the emperor, arch-princess Sofia, embroidered the slogan on the ribbon to the flag of the Rusyns: “Loyalty leads to victory. Sophia, Arch-Duchess of Austria.
As you can see, modern myth-makers are trying to make a symbol of loyalty to the Austrian throne a symbol of "independent Ukraine" and hide the role of the Habsburgs in the history of its appearance. Cossacks with their regimental badges appeared as arguments much later, when the population of Little Russia had to come up with a new history in which it would appear as a special non-Russian people of the outskirts of Poland.
On the territory of modern Ukraine, except for Galicia, until 1914, this flag was never some kind of symbol and, moreover, was not used either by the military, or by political or public structures. Nobody knew anything about this flag on the territory of Little Russia.
The blue-yellow flag floats again together with the Sich Riflemen on the eve of the First World War. Under the Austrian command, units of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and other Galician formations are being created, which the Austrian monarchy prepares under this flag to conduct hostilities against the Russian army.
The emissaries of the archers under the leadership of Grushevsky are sent to Kiev to conduct subversive activities. They attracted the Kiev students and in March 1914 they organized a demonstration on the occasion of honoring Shevchenko, where for the first time in Little Russia they were held under the yellow-blue flag. So the colors of the Habsburg Empire penetrated the territory of Little Russia and began to poison the lives of the local population.
Sich Riflemen under this flag were defeated by Russian troops in 1915 on Makovka Mountain. Ukrainian myth-makers are trying to present this defeat as a "great" victory of Ukrainian arms and instead of Victory Day celebrate the Day of Remembrance of the Sich Riflemen on May 8, teaching everyone to lay on the graves of the fallen not carnations, but poppies.
The corps of the Sich Riflemen was eventually defeated by Russian troops, and many of the Riflemen were taken prisoner, including Konovalets, the future leader of the OUN. Immediately after the February Revolution, immigrants from Galicia established in Kiev a self-styled Central Rada headed by Grushevsky (out of 18 members, 12 were representatives of Galicia) and involved former prisoners of the Sich Riflemen in demonstrations under the yellow-blue flag. Konovalets creates combat formations from them in November 1917 in Kiev, which distinguished themselves by suppressing the uprising of the Arsenal workers
When Grushevsky created the Ukrainian People's Republic in January 1918, the flag of the Austrian province became the state flag of this operetta state. With the liquidation of the UPR, the flag passes to Hetman Skoropadsky, he changes colors in reverse, but this does not help, and this regime fell. The next champion of independence, Petliura, on Polish bayonets returns to the flag of the UPR, but the curse of the Austrian flowers also overtakes him, another pseudo-state has sunk into oblivion. In November 1918, in Galicia, the Ukrainian Galician Army was formed under this flag, which suffered the same fate.
With the end of the civil war, the yellow-blue flag was practically forgotten on Ukrainian lands; it was used only by the OUN militants and in the foreign diaspora represented by immigrants from Galicia. It reappears during the Great Patriotic War and unites Ukrainian punishers and policemen.
Under this flag in the occupied Ukraine and Belarus, the punitive battalions "Nachtigall" and "Roland", the SS division "Galicia" and the ruthless beast from the UPA dealt with the civilian population. The yellow-blue flag fluttered next to the Nazi flag over all police stations and city councils and remained in the eyes of the population a symbol of betrayal and treason.
With the beginning of another turmoil in the late 80s, the yellow-blue flag reappears, and not just anywhere, but at demonstrations in Galicia, in other regions it was and remained an alien symbol. Gradually, under the pressure of the Galician emissaries who flooded Kiev and the Supreme Soviet, this flag is imposed as a symbol of independent Ukraine, and after the well-known events in Moscow in August 1991, in the wake of general permissiveness, at the request of the RUKh, it was raised over the building of the Supreme Soviet.
What should be the state flag of Ukraine, no one has ever publicly discussed. Backstage, under the leadership of Kravchuk, by a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in September 1991, it began to be used in official events. Under pressure from the leadership of the Supreme Soviet, the deputies in January 1992 approved it as the state flag. This is how the yellow-blue banner, presented by the Austrian monarch to the Sich archers of Galicia for their faithful service to the Habsburg crown during the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, became the state flag of Ukraine.
