Last modified: 2023-07-07 by martin karner
Keywords: ukraine | invasion |
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images by Zachary Harden, 22 February 2023
Based on this picture and this picture located by Esteban Rivera, 21 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!)]
The 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 flags have 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: 1. Wikipedia: Russian warship, go fuck yourself, 2. Wikipedia: Snake Island Campaign, and 3. Wikipedia: Sinking of the 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
image located by Esteban Rivera, 21 February 2023
Music Battalion Flag
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.
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image located by Esteban Rivera, 21 February 2023
The public union "Creative Patriotic Association ‘Music Battalion’", MusBat (Ukrainian: Творче патріотичне об єднання
"Музичний Батальйон", МузБат) is an non-government organization 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). They are complex for the strong influence exerted upon those local communities by Russian settlers.
Note: 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).
Esteban Rivera, 21 February 2023
images by Pete Loeser, 4 July 2023
Based on this commercial photo and this commercial photo.
The 24th Mechanized Brigade (24 ОМБр) is the oldest brigade remaining in continuous service within the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It was originally formed as the Russian 1st Simbirsk Infantry Division, but within months renamed the 24th Rifle Division. Over the years the unit has been renamed and resized multiple times. (1st Simbirsk Infantry Division 1918, 24th Rifle Division 1918-1957, 24th Motor Rifle Division 1957-1992, 24th Mechanized Division 1992-2003, 24th Mechanized Brigade 2003-present) It fought in the Winter War and World War II, during which it was destroyed during Operation Barbarossa. It was replaced by a second formation the same year.
The division became a motor rifle division in 1957. In 1992, it was taken over by Ukraine and became their 24th Mechanized Division. In 2003, it was downsized to a brigade. The brigade saw its first combat in almost 70 years during the war in Donbas from 2014. Since the start of the Russian Invasion the repatriated 24th Mechanized Brigade has been involved in numerous engagements against the Russian Army, the Wagner Group, and the separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic including the Battle of Lysychansk and the new Battle of Donbas.
Pete Loeser, 3 July 2023
image located by Pete Loeser, 4 July 2023
image by Pete Loeser, 3 July 2023
Based on this photo located by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg
This 24th Mechanized Brigade Morale flag is from this YouTube video (Still image located at 19:33).
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg
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
images by Zachary Harden
The United24 Agency 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 several unofficial flags made to raise awareness of United24, mostly consisting of their logo placed on their national flag. The two that I could document so far was one used during London Fashion Week in February 2023 by Ukrainian designers
(source) (picture) and one used by British singer Ed Sheeran and the Ukrainian band Antytila during a concert in Warsaw (source) (picture).
Zachary Harden, 30 March 2023
As Zachary Harden mentioned, this is a government agency (source) which runs a cooperation program with multiple goodwill "ambassadors" or supporters 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 crowd funding. Similar charities have been established as well, such as the Ukrainian Freedom Fund.
Esteban Rivera, 30 March 2023
image located by Esteban Rivera
Charity organizations such as the televised telethon "Embrace Ukraine" (sources: youtube.com and
bonitatem.org),
combined with other media campaigns like Be Brave Like Ukraine and in coordination with the Ukrainian government, have been established to help with the war effort.
The Embrace Ukraine 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 honoring 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
images by Pete Loeser and Tomislav Todorovic, 25 June 2023
Based on this photo and this photo located by William Garrison and Esteban Rivera.
These are flags of the Russian Volunteer Corps. This group and the Freedom of Russia Legion (see below) both attack
Russia from inside Ukraine. I'm not sure how much protection that border gives, but however it is, they use it as their starting point to liberate Russia from the Kremlin.
Sources: 1. William Poon on Nozomi Kariyasu's Facebook page, 2. ABC News Article, 3.
This photo, and 4. This photo.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 June 2023
The emblem on this flag is a sword superimposed on a shield charged with a chevron. This resembles the emblem of a Russian neo-Nazi emigrant organization named Russian Center, which was founded in Kyiv in 2015, whose emblem has the ring instead of the shield, a differently shaped sword and lacks a double border [1]. This, in turn, seems to have been derived from the emblem of an earlier emigrant organization named White Idea, which was active between two World Wars [1]. It is quite possible that the same people were involved in founding both the Russian Center and the Russian Volunteer Corps.
The photos available online reveal two variants of the flag. Both are shades of blue, one rather dark and one much lighter. Depending on the lighting conditions, the darker blue flag may look almost indistinguishable from black, however, if a source of light is behind the flag, it looks much lighter and transparent.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia: Russian Volunteer Corps
[2] GOROD SUMY.ua website
[3] 24 Kanal television station website
[4] Liepajniekiem.lv website
[5] BBC Ukraine website
[6] Ukrinform news agency website
[7] Spektr website
[8] Zaborona website
[9] Znaj.UA website
Tomislav Todorovic, 02 July 2023
Additionally, the Russian Volunteer Corps - RVC (Рýсский добровóльческий кóрпус - РДК) has been fighting alongside Ukraine since 2014 and is currently considered to be (operationally speaking) part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (aka Ukrainian Foreign Legion).
The group was established on December 27, the same day as the Russian Liberation Army, only 72 years apart (RVC in 2014 and ROA in 1942).
image by Pete Loeser, 3 July 2023
Their previous flag was a St. Andrews (Saltire) black background and white cross and was used between 2014-2022 when they were embedded as part of Azov Units. They claim a lineage in the continuation of both the Russian Liberation Army as well as both, the Volunteer army (Добровольческая армия) and Markovtsy (Марковцы) derived from General Serguéi Leonidovich Markov, the latter two which were Russian military formations that took part on the 1917 White movement (Добровольческая армия) side during the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), also known as White Russia or Russian White Army, later to be known as the Russian State (officially Росси́йское госуда́рство) (1918-1922) itself a failed attempt at a continuation of the Russian Empire which finally succumbed to the Bolsheviks and led to the establishment of the Soviet Union.
Sources:
1. Russian Volunteer Corps Website
2. Wikipedia: White Movement
3. Wikipedia: Russian Civil War
4. Wikipedia: Russian Volunteer Army
5. Wikipedia: Russian state (1918-1920)
Esteban Rivera, 30 March 2023
images by Pete Loeser and Tomislav Todorovic, 25 June 2023
Based on Based on this photo and this photo.
It should be noted that both Freedom of Russia Legion Flags are defacing the white-blue-white tricolor flag known variously as the Russian Opposition Flag, the Russian Freedom Flag, or the Russian Anti-War Protest Flag. These flags have appeared in protests held both in Russia and without, including at the United Nations protests of the Ukrainian War. Both GIF flag images above are derived from the SVG image from Wikimedia Commons.
Pete Loeser, 2 July 2023
That's the Freedom of Russia Legion [flag inscription: "Svoboda Rossii", Freedom of Russia].
This group and the Russian Volunteer Corps (see above) both attack Russia from inside Ukraine. I'm not sure how much protection that border gives, but however it is, they use it as their starting point to liberate Russia from the Kremlin.
(photo, photo, source: Nozomi Kariyasu's Facebook page)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 June 2023
The source photos reported by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg actually display the flag variant with a much larger emblem (about 7/9 of the flag width) and a more oblong overall form (ratio about 3:5).
More photos of the flag:
1. Novayagazeta: Belgorodskii-trolling (photo)
2. World Comment (photo)
3. DSN News (photo)
4. Facebook (photo)
Tomislav Todorovic, 25 June 2023
See also: Republic of Novgorod/Opposition to Vladimir Putin flag (Russia)
image by Pete Loeser, 2 July 2023
This commercially sold variant defaces the Ukrainian National flag with the Freedom of Russia Legion Shield.
Pete Loeser, 2 July 2023
