Editor’s Note: The below is a version of an essay that appears in the July issue of National Review.
In April, the U.S. House approved aid to Ukraine, along with aid to Israel and Taiwan. Some congressmen, in relief and joy, waved Ukrainian flags. Others booed and jeered them. A few days later, when the Senate passed the bill the House had passed, flags appeared in the Ukrainian parliament: American flags, signaling the gratitude of the Ukrainians.
Flag politics — symbolism — has been part of the Ukraine war since February 2022, when the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion.
Immediately after the invasion, cities all over Taiwan were lit up in blue and yellow, the Ukrainian colors. “Our country and people stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression,” said Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese president. Few peoples feel so keen a sense of solidarity with the Ukrainians as the Taiwanese — they, too, are threatened with invasion and subjugation.
August 24 is Ukraine’s independence day. (The Ukrainians declared independence from the Soviet Union on that date in 1991.) On August 24, 2022, ambassadors from the NATO countries assembled at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. They stood outside for a photo. Some in the front and center — including the U.S. ambassador, R. Nicholas Burns — held a large Ukrainian flag.
On February 24, 2023 — the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion — the Eiffel Tower was lit up in blue and yellow. So was the Colosseum, in Rome. So was Warsaw’s National Theater.
These colors are seen in humbler places, too — outside homes all across America, for example. The New York Times ran a piece about the display of Ukrainian flags in Maine. These Mainers are not Ukrainian, but they are human beings.
In a speech to his country’s parliament, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said, “In any country, on any continent, when you see blue and yellow, you know it’s about freedom.”
It is natural, at least in many, to express solidarity with a people under assault — a people fighting for its freedom, its independence, its life. A handy way to do it is to display a flag. There is a musical alternative as well (less handy).
Shortly after the full-scale invasion, the Metropolitan Opera, in New York, began an evening with the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The opera that night was Verdi’s Don Carlos — one of whose themes is political freedom. National identity, freedom from oppression by an imperial power.
In November 2015, the Met had begun another evening with “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem — this was after Islamist terror attacks on Paris.
“La Marseillaise” is sung by the crowd at Rick’s in Casablanca. The crowd is not French. Indeed, the singing is instigated by Victor Laszlo, a Czechoslovakian resistance leader. But the identification with a people overrun by Nazis is natural.
Casablanca is set in December 1941. In 1943 and ’44, the U.S. government issued a series of postage stamps, “The Overrun Countries.” The stamps, 13 in all, depicted the flags of France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, and so on. The U.S. government was not failing to “put America first.” It was expressing solidarity with its allies, and saying, in effect, “To hell with Hitler.”
In the summer of 2022, I had a talk with Lou Cannon, the veteran political journalist. He said he was following Ukraine “obsessively” — every twist and turn. It reminded him of Finland. In November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland. Lou was six. His family had a Finnish neighbor and friend. Young Lou followed that war obsessively.
At the beginning of 1940, Churchill said, “Finland — superb, nay, sublime in the jaws of peril — shows what free men can do. The service rendered by Finland to mankind is magnificent.” Some of us, today, think the same about the Ukrainians.
On December 21, 2022, Zelensky addressed the U.S. Congress. Sitting behind him were the speaker of the House and the vice president, as is traditional on such occasions. Zelensky presented Speaker Pelosi with a Ukrainian flag, signed by soldiers at the front. She, in turn, gave him a U.S. flag, which had flown over the Capitol that day. He held up the Stars and Stripes; she and Vice President Harris held up the Ukrainian flag.
None of this sat well with some. Donald Trump Jr. said, “Zelensky is basically an ungrateful international welfare queen.” Candace Owens, a pop-Right “influencer” who has 5 million Twitter followers, said, “I just want to punch him.” Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA, circulated a picture — a picture of Pelosi and Harris holding the flag that Zelensky had brought. Kirk’s comment: “Rarely does betraying one’s country get caught on camera.”
Delivering his Christmas message a few days later, Pope Francis said, “Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by ten months of war.” The Associated Press reported that Francis “gestured toward those in the crowd waving small Ukrainian flags.”
Two weeks later, Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) tweeted, “Why are lefties so into displaying the Ukrainian flag on Twitter?” (The senator styles himself “BasedMikeLee” on that platform.) Still later, he tweeted an image of the Ukrainian flag, with some writing on it — not the signatures of soldiers but the words “New Symbol for Money Laundering.” For good measure, he tweeted, “Brought to you by the Military Industrial Complex™.”
At about the same time, Senator J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) was speaking at a Turning Point USA conference. On the issue of Social Security, he said, “There’s no issue that these people with the Ukrainian flags in their bio are more obsessed with. They call it ‘entitlement reform,’ but of course what they’re saying is that they want to cut Social Security for the people who paid into it for a generation so that we can send more money to Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine. Do we want to do that?” The crowd chorused, “No!” Vance said, “Absolutely not.”
Foreign aid is a drop in the bucket of our federal spending — but, to a demagogue, this makes no difference. (What’s more, no one who believes that reform of Social Security is necessary wants to cut benefits for those who have already paid in.)
Since October 7, 2023 — when Hamas attacked Israel — many Americans have displayed the Israeli flag. This seems to go down fairly well with people who object to the sight of a Ukrainian flag. Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) is one pol who backs both Ukraine and Israel. When anti-Israel protesters gathered at his home, he flew a large Israeli flag from his rooftop.
Opponents of Ukraine often say that Ukraine is “woke.” They point out that Kyiv has been the site of gay-pride parades, where rainbow flags have been seen. This will happen in a free society. And if Ukraine’s opponents ever visited Tel Aviv, they would fall over.
Most of us, if we display a Ukrainian flag, risk nothing but ridicule and scorn. Others risk a great deal more. Someone — some brave soul — hoisted a Ukrainian flag on a rooftop in Minsk, on the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion. The dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.
Olga Nazarenko is now dead. She was a Russian, living in Ivanovo. She opposed the Ukraine war and favored peace and freedom, for all. She put a Ukrainian flag on her balcony. Police repeatedly took it down. She repeatedly put it back up — stubborn woman; righteous woman.
Anyway, she died at 48, leaving a husband and two children. She had lingered two weeks after sustaining injuries. Novaya Gazeta Europe carried a report: “Doctors say the injuries she suffered suggested a severe beating and falling from a great height.”
Russian flags have been seen since February 2022 — in Russia, of course, but outside Russia as well. In September 2022, CPAC put out a tweet, with a fluttering Russian flag. (Those initials stand for “Conservative Political Action Conference.”) The tweet began, “Vladimir Putin announces the annexation of 4 Ukrainian-occupied territories.” A curious phrase, “Ukrainian-occupied.” The tweet went on,
Biden and the Dems continue to send Ukraine billions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, we are under attack at our southern border. When will Democrats put #AmericaFirst and end the gift-giving to Ukraine?
The tweet did not play well; CPAC took it down.
A month later, there was a demonstration in Rome. Both the Italian and the Russian flags were on display. The protesters held a banner that said, “No arms to Ukraine. Enough with sanctions. Yes to friendship with Russia.”
The sight of the Ukrainian flag in the Free World, however, is more familiar.
One afternoon, in February 2024, President Biden appeared in the State Dining Room to make a statement about aid to Ukraine. He said, “I’m wearing my Ukraine tie and my Ukraine pin, which I’ve been wearing because they’re in dire straits right now, defending themselves against the Russian onslaught.”
Opponents of aid had a field day with this. An article in the Daily Caller during this period was headed, “Biden Roasted Online for Wearing Ukraine Tie and Pin.” Among the roasters was the Heritage Foundation. The organization tweeted a meme, which apparently shows a mother in a pool, playing with a child. Meanwhile, another child, a few feet away, is struggling in the water. Heritage labeled the mother “President Biden” and the first child “Ukraine Border.” The second, struggling child, it labeled “U.S. Border.”
It has long been the contention of the Heritage Foundation and its like that Russia’s assault on Ukraine is a “border dispute.” They have also contended, as we have seen, that American supporters of Ukraine fail to put America “first.” In May 2022, Heritage issued a press release saying, “Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last.”
Often, however, the fates of nations are interconnected. And many Americans support aid to Ukraine out of straightforward national interest.
Weapons are more important than symbols, such as ties and pins and flags — but symbols are not nothing. After Biden was “roasted,” I thought of President Reagan, in late 1981. I was in my senior year of high school, and I was alive, as never before, to world events. The dictatorship in Poland declared martial law on December 13. In Washington, the Polish ambassador defected to us. He told Reagan that Poles were placing lighted candles in their windows, to show solidarity with one another. Could Reagan put a candle in a White House window on Christmas Eve, to symbolize solidarity with the Polish people? He agreed — and he asked all Americans to put candles in their own windows.
In a national address on December 23, he said the following:
When 19th-century Polish patriots rose against foreign oppressors, their rallying cry was, “For our freedom and yours.” Well, that motto still rings true in our time. There is a spirit of solidarity abroad in the world tonight that no physical force can crush. It crosses national boundaries and enters into the hearts of men and women everywhere.
Reliving, rereading, the speech in its entirety, I can tell you that Reagan would be “roasted” today.
Think of that cry “For our freedom and yours.” A version of it appeared on a placard in Red Square, Moscow, on August 25, 1968: “For Your Freedom and Ours!” Another placard read, “Shame to the Occupiers!” Another read, “Long Live Free and Independent Czechoslovakia!”
Seven incredibly brave people had gone to Red Square to protest the Kremlin’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. They held small Czechoslovakian flags. These men and women weren’t Czechoslovakian, obviously. They weren’t “putting Czechoslovakia first.” But they were human beings, and they recognized the interconnectedness of things.
Their protest lasted only a few minutes, whereupon the KGB fell on them. Awful punishments were inflicted on them all. Viktor Fainberg had his teeth knocked out on the spot.
Let me name the other six who were in Red Square that day: Konstantin Babitsky, Larisa Bogoraz, Vadim Delaunay, Vladimir Dremliuga, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Pavel Litvinov.
I learned about the seven protesters from Vladimir Kara-Murza, who made a documentary about dissidence in the Soviet Union: They Chose Freedom. Kara-Murza is a dissident himself, and a political prisoner of Putin’s. For criticizing the war on Ukraine, he has been sentenced to 25 years. His health is very bad, and his family and friends are very worried. Kara-Murza is as brave and remarkable as the people he has covered and hailed.
After the House vote in April, Congressman Bill Pascrell (D., N.J.) circulated a picture of himself, wearing a Ukrainian flag and a grin, and giving a thumbs-up. He is an old codger, born in 1937. From 1958 to 1967, he served in the Army. Along with his picture, he had a message, for those who objected to the Ukrainian flag: “Screw Putin and Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”). That’s the spirit.
I recently talked with a venerable lady in London. She was born about the same time as Pascrell — right before World War II. Our conversation turned to 9/11, and she told me she had worn an American-flag pin in the aftermath. She is not American. She is as British as apple crumble and cricket. But she is a human being, and I understand her, and she understands me.