Defenders Day
is a
public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.
Types
Civic holiday
A ''civic holiday'', also k ...
[Day of Defenders and Defendresses of Ukraine celebrated today](_blank)
Ukrinform
The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of Independence[Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...]
celebrated annually on 1 October. The holiday honors veterans and fallen members of the Ukrainian armed forces
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...
. Its first celebration was in 2015.["Ukraine honours servicemen during celebrations of first-ever Defenders' Day"]
Ukraine Today
Ukraine News Today was a Ukraine-based private English language satellite television channel and webcasting service. The channel, which was owned by the Ukrainian 1+1 group and headquartered in Kyiv, presented round-the-clock news bulletins aim ...
(14 October 2015)
History
On 14 October 2014, a decree by Ukrainian President
The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...
decreed the new holiday "Defender of Ukraine Day" () due to the Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
and decommunization in Ukraine
Decommunization in Ukraine started during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and expanded afterwards. Following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government ap ...
.
October 14th was picked to mark the date of establishment of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...
(УПА) (October 14,1942).
[Ukraine's Defenders Day to be observed on October 14, February 23 celebration canceled]
Interfax-Ukraine
Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German.
The company owns a 50-seat press centre.
The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022)
...
(14 October 2014)President proclaimed October 14 the Day of Defender of Ukraine
president.gov.ua
The Office of the President of Ukraine (, ), formerly the ''Administration of the President of Ukraine'' ( ), is a standing advisory body set up by the President of Ukraine pursuant to clause 28, Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The ...
(14 October 2014) This decree was approved by the Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...
(the Verkhovna Rada) on 5 March 2015.[New Oct. 14 state holiday has Orthodox, Cossack roots](_blank)
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden.
In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...
(8 October 2015) The holiday replaced the former 23 February's holiday called "Defender of the Fatherland Day
Defender of the Fatherland Day ( ''Den' zashchitnika Otechestva''; ; ; ; ) is a holiday observed in Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. It is celebrated on 23 February, except in Kazakhstan, where it is celebra ...
", which had its origin in the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.[Таємниця 23 лютого. Українцям є що святкувати "'Mystery of February 23. Ukrainians have something to celebrate"]
''Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...
'' (23 February 2013) As the Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991. On 24 August 2014 (Independence Day of Ukraine
Independence Day of Ukraine (, ) is a public holidays in Ukraine, state holiday in Ukraine, celebrated on 24 August in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Declaration of Independence of 1991.
History
When Ukraine was st ...
) President Poroshenko had proclaimed that Ukraine should not celebrate the holidays of the "military-historical calendar of Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
" but "We will honor the defenders of our homeland, not someone else's".
According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS; , КМІС) is a Ukrainian organization conducting sociological research in the fields of social and socioeconomic research, marketing research, political research, health studies, and research con ...
(KIIS) in 2017 only 10% of the Ukrainian population celebrated the holiday. In 2021 KIIS opinion polls showed that the holiday was popular among 29% of respondents.
On 14 July 2021 parliament officially altered the name to (), explicitly to include the female defenders of Ukraine (in Ukrainian grammar захисників is the masculine form
In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...
of the word defender and захисниць the feminine form).
After the Bishops' Council was held on May 24, 2023, it became known that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (; OCU), also called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is an Eastern Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It was granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on .
Some of the Eastern Orthodox Churche ...
would ask the authorities to shift the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, as well as the Day of Ukrainian Statehood, due to a , because the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary in the OCU and UGCC will be celebrated on October 1
Events Pre-1600
* 331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
* 366 – Pope Damasus I is consecrated.
* 959 – Edgar the Peaceful becomes king of all England, in succession to E ...
from 2023. On 28 June 2023 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law that moves the Day of Defenders of Ukraine from October 14 to October 1. Parliament approved this law on 14 July 2023 by 241 deputies supported the law. On July 28, 2023, Zelenskyy signed the draft law and Presidential Decree No. 455/2023 "On Amendments to Certain Decrees of the President of Ukraine", so the date of the holiday was finally shifted.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
that started on 24 February 2022 led to a reappraisal of the popularity of Defenders Day in Ukraine. A March 2024 study by KIIS found that the popularity of Independence Day of Ukraine
Independence Day of Ukraine (, ) is a public holidays in Ukraine, state holiday in Ukraine, celebrated on 24 August in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Declaration of Independence of 1991.
History
When Ukraine was st ...
and Defenders Day had both almost more than doubled (from 37% to 64% and from 29% to 58%).
Intercession of the Theotokos in Ukrainian history
The chairman of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance
The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM, ), also translated as the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, is the central executive body operating under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Established on 31 May 2006 as a special org ...
, Volodymyr Viatrovych
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Viatrovych (; born 7 July 1977) is a Ukrainian historian, civic activist and politician.
Viatrovych was the Director of the Center for Research of Liberation Movement in 2002–2010. Viatrovych is a member of the board of ...
, motivated the choice of the date for 14 October on the Ukrainian historical tradition of honouring the Ukrainian army
The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...
on the day of the Intercession of the Theotokos
The Intercession of the Theotokos, or the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, is a Christian feast of the Mother of God celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches on October 14 (Julian calend ...
. This holiday has been celebrated by Ukrainians
Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...
since the 12th century. The holiday was especially popular among Ukrainian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...
, who celebrated it since at least the 17th century as they believed the Mother of God
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer ...
(also known as "Theotokos") to be their patroness. The fourteenth of October is also the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks.[
During the ]Ukrainian War of Independence
The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukr ...
(1917–1920) the military symbolism of the holiday was adopted by the soldiers of the Ukrainian People's Army
The Ukrainian People's Army (), also known as the Ukrainian National Army (UNA) or by the derogatory term Petliurivtsi (, ), was the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921). They were often quickly reorganized units of the former I ...
.
In an effort to adopt some Cossack traditions, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...
(1942–1956) chose the day of the Intercession of the Theotokos to be the official day of their establishment.
See also
* Public holidays in Ukraine
The following are 11 public holidays in Ukraine.
Holidays established by law
During martial law a public holiday is not a non-working day.
Before the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church switched to the Revised ...
* History of Ukraine
The history of Ukraine spans thousands of years, tracing its roots to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe—one of the key centers of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, Indo-European migrations, and early domestication of the horse, hors ...
References
{{Public holidays in Ukraine
Public holidays in Ukraine
Culture of Ukraine
Society of Ukraine
2014 establishments in Ukraine
October observances
Autumn in Ukraine
Recurring events established in 2014
Armed Forces days