Ukrainian flag from the dissident rally near the Taras Shevchenko monument in Kyiv 1988 On March 9, 1988 activists of the dissident Ukrainian Cultural Club gathered near the Taras Shevchenko monument with 30 homemade little Ukrainian flags. The demonstrators put these flags on the wooden poles right in front of the monument, as it was easier to hide them in case of iMijfe search during the walk to the monument. During these years public manifestation of Ukrainian national symbols, especially blue-and-yellow flags, was persecuted by Soviet authorities. Exhibition Ukrainian flags-relics at St. Sophia Square in Kyiv (23-25 August 2015)