Ukraine marks Flag Day

National Flag Day is celebrated in Ukraine on August 23.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko participated in an official flag-raising ceremony at Kyiv's Sofiyska Square.

He was accompanied by, among others, Maria Rybak, daughter of Ukrainian martyr, former local council member Volodymyr Rybak, who sacrificed his life defending the flag in the militant-captured town of Horlivka in Donbas in April 2014.

Official ceremonies were held across Ukraine to mark the day.

The day was established to honor the centuries-old history of the creation of the Ukrainian state and the state symbols of independent Ukraine, as well as to foster citizens' respect for the state symbols of Ukraine, under a decree issued by second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on August 23, 2004.

In 2009, Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's third president, made amendments to the decree, establishing an annual official flag-raising ceremony on August 23 in the country.