Flag of Unity

Euromaidan, the invasion of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, the full-scale war in Ukraine. Through each of these times, people from Latvia have set forth to provide material and emotional support to our neighbouring nation in challenging times. One brings aid to the Ukrainian border, another lets a refugee family into his car at that border, and some are even ready to risk their health and lives to take medicines, equipment and food to the place where they are needed most: the front line, or as the soldiers themselves call it, "ground zero". Many of these volunteers are Latvian National Guard members who, in their personal time, do their duty in the name of freedom, knowing what the loss of Ukraine in the war could mean for the future of Latvia and its people - including their own partners, children and parents.

On June 25, the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia was presented with a flag with greetings from the front to the thousands of people in Latvia who in so many ways support Ukraine’s struggle against the invasion by the occupying forces in the east of the country. The soldiers appreciate every bit of help, as the availability of medicine, food and clothing for the changing seasons gives them the strength to fight where otherwise death would await.
The Ukrainian soldiers who signed this flag, some of whom have since fallen, battle every day in difficult conditions against an unrelenting enemy invader and unhesitatingly show their readiness to fight on and defend their country’s independence.

The flag’s donor, Sergejs Melesšs, who together with his comrades and on his own initiative regularly delivers aid from Latvia to the brave defenders of Ukraine, calls on friends of Ukraine not to be afraid, because support for freedom fighters comes not only at the state level, but also from countless volunteers in different countries. Indeed, this is a good time to join the ranks of helpers so that justice can prevail more quickly against an unjust invasion.

The flag is currently on display for visitors in our museum’s entrance hall.