Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs EU membership application
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Ukrainian soldiers, backed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, have managed to hold out against all odds as they enter the second week of Russian advances. Unfazed by the rapidly surging military presence, they have held out at capital city Kyiv, President Putin’s final goal. Although Ukrainians are holding the line, they aren’t doing so without assistance from other nations, where the general public has unified behind them.
What does Ukraine’s flag signify?
People have adopted Ukraine’s national flag as a symbol of solidarity and resistance against the ongoing invasion.
Many have tacked it on to their social media handles across Facebook and Twitter, with governments following suit and emblazoning official buildings in yellow and gold bands.
Although officially adopted just 30 years ago, the national flag has roots centuries in the past.
The banner’s gold and blue come from the flag of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, a medieval state in Eastern Europe located on land that makes up modern-day Ukraine and Belarus.
The colours signify the Ukrainian landscape and the country’s primary source of income.
The lower golden band signifies a field of grain according to an 18th-century explanation, while the blue above shows a clear blue sky.
The flag is sometimes known as “blue sky above yellow field of wheat” or “blue sky over sunflowers”.
Ukraine has long established itself as a world-leading grain exporter and has a unique soil composition rarely found elsewhere.
The latest figures put the country fourth globally for barley and corn and fifth for wheat.
Ukraine also has one-quarter of the world’s supply of black soil, otherwise known as Chernozem.
The soil has a high humus content and light lime-rich layer uniquely suited to cultivation.
Most of the central agricultural areas reside on the outskirts of cities currently in Russia’s sights, such as Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Ukrainians have long referred to their national flag as yellow and light blue (zhovto-blakytnyi).
Citizens have previously disputed the colours of the national flag and their arrangement.
Some have long held the flag should bear the colours in reverse order – with yellow above and blue below.
In this configuration, they include two new national identifiers.
The yellow, in this case, comes from the golden domes (known as cupolas) included in Christian churches.
And the lower blue section is sometimes referred to as a representation of the Dneiper, one of Europe’s major rivers that runs through Ukraine at Kyiv.
Discussion about the appropriate colour arrangement dates back more than 100 years to 1918.
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