Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army

The flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Прапор УПА, romanized: Prapor UPA), also known as the red-and-black flag (Ukrainian: Червоно-чорний прапор, romanized: Chervono-chornyi prapor), is a flag previously used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Bandera wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and now used by various Ukrainian nationalist organizations and parties, including UNA-UNSO, Right Sector, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and others.

Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army

Use	Other
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	April 1941 (by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists)
Design	A horizontal bicolour of black and red

History

Ilya Repin's Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

Historian Andriy Grechylo argues that the red-black color scheme heralds back to the Zaporozhian Cossacks, evidenced by the 1880-1891 painting Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, where it can seen next to the blue-and-yellow draped spear.^[1][2]

The 1914-1917 Ukrainian Sich Riflemen embroidered the color scheme on their uniforms and banners, and the 1934 cover of Mykola Uhryn-Bezgrishny's book "Knights of the Iron Fortress" also exhibits said banner.^[3]

The revolutionary wing of the OUN, which was also called the OUN-B or the Banderites (because it was headed by Stepan Bandera), sought to develop its own symbolism in order to differ from the OUN-M of Andriy Melnyk, which used the blue flag of the OUN and the coat of arms with a golden trident (tryzub) with a sword.

The OUN-B adopted a red and black emblem, and at the II Great Gathering of the OUN in April 1941 decided to abandon the trident with a sword and use only "the national Trident of Volodymyr the Great in the form introduced by the Central Rada" and "a separate organizational flag of black and red colors. The way of life and the mandatory proportions will be adopted by a separate commission."^[4] However, due to the outbreak of World War II, this commission never met.^[5][6]

The flag consists of two colors: red and black. The black color symbolizes the black earth ("Chornozem") that Ukraine is synonymous for, and the red color represents blood spilled for Ukraine ("Blut und Boden"^{[failed verification]}).^{[7][better source needed][6]}

The flag received a lot of usage after the Independence of Ukraine in 1991, where it became a common symbol of Ukrainian nationalists.^[7] It has also been frequently used as a military symbol and unofficial war flag during the Russo-Ukrainian War.^[8]

Controversy

In Poland, the red-and-black flag is widely associated with the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, during which between 60,000 and 120,000 Poles were murdered by the UPA. The display of the flag can result in police action as it may be associated with "the public promotion of fascism or another totalitarian system", which is forbidden by Article 256 of the Polish Penal Code.^[9] For that reason, Polish police searched for individuals accused of painting it on building facades in Wrocław in 2024.^[10] In the same city, police also questioned individuals who displayed the flag on a balcony in 2022.^[11] In December 2024, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, intervened with the Ukrainian attaché in Warsaw over flags displayed on Polish-donated Rosomak armored vehicles.^[12] Roman Ponomarenko, an officer of the 12th Azov Brigade commented on the matter, stating it was "an exploitation of historical conflict and narrative for the sake of cheap popularity".^[13]

Usage

Activists of the Ukrainian nationalist party Right Sector fly the red-and-black flags together with the flag of UNA-UNSO and the flag of the Ukrainian State

• A ribbon imitating the flag of the OUN-B is present on the flag of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
• Flag of Right Sector.
• Flag of Hai-Shevchenkivski.
• On 30 March 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered a bill "On the Flag of National Dignity", which provides for the installation of a flag on government buildings, schools, institutes, enterprises nine times a year during the celebration of certain memorable dates in order to honor "heroes who made a significant contribution to the struggle for independence of Ukraine". This bill also provides for the technical justification and rules for the installation of the flag.^[14]
• On 24 May 2020, near the building of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, during the "Stop Revenge" action, employees of a contractor fenced off a place near the Regional State Administration and began preparatory work to install a 12-meter flagpole for the red-black flag.^[15] The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council Svyatoslav Oliynyk called these actions a provocation.^[16] On 28 May 2020, four veterans of the War in Donbas solemnly raised the flag^[17] as a symbol of the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence at an action initiated by the headquarters of the "Movement of Resistance to Surrender". The flagpole with the flag was installed on the basis of Agreement No. 116/20М dated 15 May 2020, between the KP "City Improvement Control Department" of the Dnipro City Council and the "Infoprostir" Social Technologies Center public organization.