Last modified: 2023-05-20 by martin karner
Keywords: ukraine | invasion |
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images by Zachary Harden, 22 February 2023
(Notice: the following content may contain language deemed offensive
and it is only mentioned in written form for vexillological reference
purpose only.)
On February 24, 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of
Ukraine, the Russian Navy attacked Snake Island, a Ukrainian island in
the Black Sea, and captured it along with its entire garrison,
beginning a military occupation of the island. The attack was widely
publicized when an audio clip of Russian cruiser Moskva hailing the
island's garrison over the radio demanding their surrender and being
told "Russian warship, go fuck yourself!" (Russian: Русский военный
корабль, иди на хуй!, tr. Russky voyenny korabl, idi na khuy,
Ukrainian: рускій Ваєнний карабль нахуй!, romanized: russkij voennyj
korabl idi na hj!) in response went viral, along with initial
inaccurate reports of the garrison's deaths. The expression is attributed to Roman Valentinovych Hrybov
(It is important to notice that due to online censorship, the written
form of the phrase often varies from the original "иди нахуй" to
"(иди) на хуй").
Later on, it emerged that a civilian search
and rescue ship trying to evacuate the soldiers was also captured along with the
garrison. The ship, its crew, and at least one soldier were
subsequently freed in prisoner exchanges.
Following the island's capture, Ukraine launched a campaign against
Russian forces on and around the island, deploying anti-ship missiles
against Russian naval forces and air, artillery, and missile strikes
against Russian positions on the island itself. Russia subsequently
withdrew from the island on 30 June 2022, ending the 126-day military
occupation of the island. Russian bombing against the island continued
thereafter, reportedly causing casualties on the Ukrainian military;
this has been denied by Ukraine. The cruiser Moskva itself was sunk on April 14, 2022.
The flag (pictures: Ukrainian, Russian)
is a horizontal blue background featuring what seems to be
three upward silhouettes with the middle having the shape of a bullet
tip but also resembling the Trident in a gesture which
very much represents extending the middle finger as an offensive hand
gesture. Above, the inscription "РУССКИЙ ВОЕННЫЙ КОРАБЛЬ" and below it
reads "НАХУЙ". (Sources: phrase,
Snake Island,
Moskva)
Esteban Rivera, 21 February 2023
There are a lot of variants of this flag in terms of style; 11 designs just from this website.
Zachary Harden, 22 February 2023
Flag
Logo
The public union "Creative Patriotic
Association ‘Music Battalion’", MusBat (Ukrainian: Творче патріотичне об єднання
"Музичний Батальйон", МузБат)
was established in 2014. As they describe themselves, "(it) is an association of Ukrainian
professional musicians and poets, which since 2014 has been supporting
the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and
volunteer battalions in
the zone of the so-called ‘Anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine’
with their songs and fiery words." MusBat is engaged in the
popularization of modern Ukrainian song and Ukrainian culture among
young people in such complex multicultural regions as the Danube
region (southwest Odessa region), Transcarpathia and Donbass
(source: https://muzbat.org). They are complex for the strong
influence exerted upon those local communities by Russian settlers.
Notice: The ато
(антитерористичної операції, Anti-terrorist operation),
as it is officially
called in Ukraine, is the Russian undeclared invasion of Ukraine,
which lasted from 2014–2018, starting with the annexation of Crimea and the
destabilization process in the East (War in Donbass and establishment
of pro-Russian separatist republics, see here and
here) and South (Pro Russian demonstrations in Odessa).
The flag is a blue horizontal flag with the logo in the middle, the
logo being the Trident featuring a G
musical note symbol, all in yellow letters. The logo includes the
initials МУЗ
БАТ
in capitals inside. The flag also has the name of
the organization below the logo, also in yellow capital letters.
Esteban Rivera, 21 February 2023
The text on the flag is "The glory is gaining thru battle".
Valentin Poposki, 19 March 2023
It is a morale flag of the 24th Mechanized Brigade, named after Daniel
of Galicia. The unit was identified in an Instagram post by the
YouTube creator. The flag can be seen also here.
Zachary Harden, 19 March 2023
United24 was established in May 2022 by the Government of Ukraine to
focus on three elements to support the country after Russia launched
their invasion in February 2022.
The three areas are the following:
defense and demining, humanitarian and medical assistance, and
reconstruction of the country.
There have been unofficial flags made to raise awareness of United24,
mostly consisting of their logo placed on their national flag. Two I
could document so far was one used during
London Fashion Week in
February 2023 by Ukrainian designers
(zawya.com, picture)
and one used by British singer Ed Sheeran and the Ukrainian band
Antytila during a concert in Warsaw
(facebook.com, picture).
Zachary Harden, 30 March 2023
As Zachary Harden mentioned, this is a government agency (source:
https://ua.linkedin.com) which runs a cooperation program
with multiple goodwill "ambassadors" (if you will) or supporters,
with
the likes of former football players, film stars, etc. (source)
The name is derived from a 24-hour (permanent) donor drive worldwide. They have been very active
especially in crowdfunding. Similar charities have been established as well, such as the
Ukrainian Freedom Fund.
Esteban Rivera, 30 March 2023
image located by Esteban Rivera
Another charity organization, in this case a televised telethon,
Embrace Ukraine (sources: youtube.com,
bonitatem.org),
which, combined with other media campaigns such as Be Brave Like Ukraine
in coordination with the Ukrainian government, has been established as well.
The flag is a horizontal blue background with a pumping heart with
the colors of the country (blue and yellow) and inside, the country's
map, also in blue and yellow (source, picture).
Esteban Rivera, 30 March 2023
image located by William Garrison
A flag honouring the friendship between Ukraine and the United States
(Photo: Ukrainian tank with attached flag, probably 2022/2023,
source: fdd.org).
The flag shows two hands in national colours with a friendly handshake in front of the flags of Ukraine and the U.S.
located by William Garrison, 8 May 2023