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# Political Flags (Ukraine)

## (Un)identified Flags at Demonstrations

Last modified: 2026-08-21 by martin karner
Keywords: ukraine | ufe | unidentified |
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- Introduction: Flags Seen During the Crimean Crisis – Unidentified Flags at Demonstrations (2014)
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-1 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-2 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-3 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-4 – deleted
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-5 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-6 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-7 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-8 – Odessa Demonstration – 13 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-1 – Donetsk Demonstration – 5 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-2 – Donetsk Demonstration – 5 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-3 – Donetsk Demonstration – 5 April 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-4 – Donetsk Demonstration – 5 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-5 – Donetsk Demonstration – 5 April 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #3-1 – Donetsk Demonstration – 8 March 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #3-2 – Donetsk Demonstration – 8 March 2014 – IDENTIFIED
- Unknown Ukrainian Separatist Flag #SE – IDENTIFIED
- Unidentified Ukrainian Flag – Separatist Flag SE-1
- Pro-Russian Demonstrations before 2014
- Ukrainian UFE Flag #4-1 – Kiev Demonstration held in 2001
- Ukrainian UFE Flags #4-2 – Ukrainian Demonstration against President Kuchma 2001
- Ukrainian UFE Flags #4-3 – Sevastopol Demonstration held in March 2009 – IDENTIFIED
- Demonstration in Donbass in December 2004 – IDENTIFIED

See also:

- Political Flags – 2004 Elections
- Political Flags (Index)
- Ukraine
- Unidentified Flags or Ensigns (UFE)

## Introduction: Flags Seen During the Crimean Crisis
Ukrainian Unidentified Flags used at Demonstrations 2014

[Editorial Comment: Sovereignty and control of the Crimean Peninsula and East Ukraine have become the issue of the 2014 Crimean crisis, a territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine. During the crisis many unrecognized flags have made their appearance at large demonstrations and protests. – Ed.]

#1 #2 #3
images located by Esteban Rivera

Wikipedia labels these events as "2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine". Since the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups have taken place in major cities across the south-eastern regions of Ukraine, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the Euromaidan movement. Various Russian news media outlets have used the term "Russian Spring" to describe the protests. The protests have since escalated into an armed separatist insurgency.
During these protests, several pictures are seen showing flags of various sorts. Most of these are unknown (at least to me) or are unidentified. I hope we can all identify them.
Pictures: #1 – Pro-Russian demonstration in Odessa, 13 April 2014, #2 – Pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk, 5 April, 2014, and #3 – Pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk, 8 March 2014.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

[Further Editorial comment: The unidentified flags in these pictures have been cropped below and hopefully will ease identification – Ed.]

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-1
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Red flag with star and inscription (possibly in cyrillic).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-2 – IDENTIFIED
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Red-white-yellow UFE with Coat-of-Arms.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

City flag of Odesa (Odessa) – ua-od-od.html
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-3
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Red flag with logo in the middle.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-5 – IDENTIFIED
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Light blue UFE with inscription (possibly in Cyrillic).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

Movement "People's Alternative" founded in Odessa in February (?) 2014. Light blue flag with inscription in Russian – People's Alternative (Narodnaya Alternativa)
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-6
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

White UFE with inscription (possibly Cyrillic).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-7 – IDENTIFIED
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Orange black UFE with coat of arms in the middle (the orange and black colors resembling the Order of Saint George, which is awarded to "to top and senior military officers for the conduct of military operations to protect the Fatherland in the case of attack by an external enemy which resulted in the complete defeat of the enemy, for the execution of combat and other operations in other states aimed at restoring international peace and security, for being a model of military science with feats that exemplify military prowess, and who were previously awarded state awards of the Russian Federation for distinction in combat."
Source: Wikipedia: Order of Saint George
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

The image in the centre of this flag is the shoulder patch of the "BERKUT" (in Ukr. – "golden eagle", Aquila chrysaetos) special Ukrainian police force unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Berkut" had conflicts with Maidan protesters in Kiev in 2013–2014. In February 2014 new Ukrainian Interior Minister Ar. Avakov signed a decree on the dissolution of the "Berkut". The flag "UFE 1-7" looked like this image I think there is no political movement with this flag ... I think, protesters in Odessa used this flag like sign of solidarity with Berkut
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #1-8 – IDENTIFIED
Odessa Demonstration held on 13 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Crimsom UFE with Coat-of-Arms in the middle.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

Zaporizhia City flag – ua-zp-zp.html
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-1 – IDENTIFIED
Donetsk Demonstration held on 5 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

White UFE (possibly St. George).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

Not St. George. There are three running horses and the rainbow Flag of Political party "Russian Block"
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-2 – IDENTIFIED
Donetsk Demonstration held on 5 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

White UFE with inscription in red and emblem in the middle which seems to be St. George).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

I speculate that Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-2 appears to be a variant of the United Rus flag. It has the United Rus shield centered on it.
Pete Loeser, 1 August 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-3
Donetsk Demonstration held on 5 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Black UFE with white letters.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-4 – IDENTIFIED
Donetsk Demonstration held on 5 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Red UFE flag with white inscription.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

This is a variant of the flag of Communist Party of Ukraine, with white charges instead of yellow/gold and inscription *KOMPARTIYA UKRAYINY* in two rows (the variant already presented at the FOTW-ws has the inscription "KOMUNISTICHNA PARTIYA UKRAYINY" in three rows).
Tomislav Todorovic, 26 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #2-5 – IDENTIFIED
Donetsk Demonstration held on 5 April 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Blue gonfalon with black inscription.
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

Rather "yellow gonfalon with inscription, possibly Georgian". In fact it is not Georgian inscription. The words written in Cyrillic with semi-ancient font. It is the flag of public organization "Faithful Cossacks" (rus. – VERNOE KAZACHESTVO) (http://www.vernoe-kazachestvo.org.ua/) They use different types of flags – crimson, black, dark-yellow.
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #3-1
Donetsk Demonstration held on 8 March 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

White UFE with religious images on it (crosses on all four corners, plus what seems to be St. George in the middle).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #3-2 – IDENTIFIED
Donetsk Demonstration held on 8 March 2014

image located by Esteban Rivera

Blue UFE with white inscription (maybe Cyrillic).
Esteban Rivera, 20 April 2014

The inscription is not completely visible, but almost certainly, it is RUS' (РУСЬ), the ancient name for the predecessor state of present-day Russia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus_(name) It is nowadays used not only by the pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine, as here (to denote that the area, Donetsk in this particular case, has always been a Russian land), but also by some of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists, who claim that Ukraine and Ukrainians are the only true successors of the Rus state and Rus people, the Russian claims to any kind of the continuity being denoted as the usurpation.
Tomislav Todorovic, 26 May 2014

## Unknown Ukrainian Separatist flag #SE – IDENTIFIED

image located by Art

I'm calling this the "St. George's Ribbon Flag" (in order not to confuse it with the old St. George´s Cross Flag, flown by the Imperial Navy). I'm attaching a picture. There's another flag with St George's stripes, which I labeled "St George's Flag II". I don't know who's using it.
Art, 13 May 2014

#SE-2 images located by Victor Lomantsov

That is the flag of "South East" Movement leaded by Oleg Tsarev.
Source: Yugovostok.
Victor Lomantsov, 13 May 2014

The Unknown Ukrainian Separatist Flag #SE-1 appears to be the Yugo-Vostok Movement (South East) flag here
Pete Loeser, 1 August 2014

## Unknown Ukrainian Separatist Flags #SE-1

#SE-1 images located by Victor Lomantsov

I downloaded a picture of a Ukrainian rally with a flag that I've been unable to identify so far. Please take a look at this picture and my drawing and let me know if you can identify it.
Photo Source: Live Journal
Victor Lomantsov, 13 May 2014

## Pro-Russian Demonstrations before 2014

Prior to the Russian Invasion of Crimea in 2014, there has been political unrest and protests on the Crimean Peninsula and in East Ukraine. Unhappy Russian ex-patriots have been demonstrating there ever since the breakup of the USSR and Ukrainian independence. We've gathered up some earlier contributions to the list about unknown flags used during these earlier demonstrations and include them here – Ed.

## Ukrainian UFE Flag #4-1
Kiev Demonstration held in 2001

image located by M. Schmöger

The German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" sometimes contains photos with flags. At issue 8 of 2001 (p. 139) you can see a demonstration in Kiev (Ukraine) showing:
– Flag of the UNSO.
– A pale blue flag with some yellow device. Maybe OUN.
– A yellow flag with a variant of the Ukrainian trident on a blue field.
Photo Source: Flags found in the German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" (see Issue 8, February 19th, p. 139).
M. Schmöger, 28 Febuary 2001

## Ukrainian UFE Flags #4-2
Ukrainian Demonstration against President Kuchma 2001

image located by M. Schmöger

At Issue 12 (March 19th) at p. 230: Demonstration of Ukrainian opposition against President Kuchma see:
– Flags of the UNSO
– Blue flags (unknown) with white writings.
– Yellow flags with some devices (unknown).
Photo Source: Flags found in the German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" on Issue 8 (February 19th, p. 139).
M. Schmöger, 20 March 2001

## Ukrainian UFE Flags #4-3
Sevastopol Demonstration held in March 2009

image located by Eugene Ipavec

A photo of Ukrainians protesters greeting the USS Klakring at Sevastopol in March 2009. The photo includes at least 8 different (I guess pro-Russian or Soviet-nostalgic) flags, plus a Soviet naval ensign.
Eugene Ipavec, 22 June 2009

The red one is a flag of Ukrainian communist party.
Victor Lomantsov, 23 June 2009

White flags with COA: Movement "For United Rus"; red flags on the left side: Pro-communist party of Natalya Vitrenko "People's Opposition".
Victor Lomantsov, 18 May 2014

## Ukrainian UFE Flags #5-1 – IDENTIFIED
Demonstration in Donbass in December 2004

image by Jens Pattke

image by Jens Pattke

Three weeks ago, the German news channel N24 showed a report from the Donbass Region. It was reported on the life of the miners workers. During the time of the election campaign the life of the Russian speaking families improved. The report also showed pictures of a demonstration for the autonomy of the Southern Ukraine. In Donetsk, the demonstrators showed the known "Green and Black" flag of the miners workers. I have seen two unknown flags in the report. Can somebody identify these both flags? Red, blue and green?
Jens Pattke, 21 December 2004

The green is under the top colour because Jens Pattke probably saw the image with the flipped flag first.
The flag belongs to the Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers of Ukraine (according to the Russian Centre of Vexillology, vexillographia.ru).
Nguyen Phuc Dit, 2 July 2026