“With the start of a special military operation in each of the settlements liberated from the LPR, our tricolor would surely be hoisted – this is the state symbol of Russia, the flag of the Lugansk People’s Republic, and, of course, a copy of the Banner of Victory. This is our tribute and memory to the ancestors who defeated fascism in 1945”, the official representative of the 2nd Army Corps of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation told “RG”, Major Ivan Filiponenko.
In some settlements, especially in the north of the republic, Ukrainian troops left without a fight, and were later pursued by parts of the Russian army. The situation was changing so rapidly that only by the flags of Russia and the LPR could local residents know that their village or settlement had been liberated from the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And if the Russian tricolor was well known to the population, then many old people and children saw the flag of the Luhansk People’s Republic for the first time and asked what the colors of the flag meant: blue, blue and red.
“Everything is quite simple here. The blue color symbolizes heavenly purity and purity, and is also associated with Orthodoxy. The backgrounds of the paintings in churches dedicated to the Mother of God always contain blue. Blue is associated with the perseverance, perseverance, constancy and readiness for a selfless struggle for an idea. The red color symbolizes the blood spilled for the well-being and freedom of the people, for the right to speak Russian,” explained the officer of the corps hoisted in Popasnaya, Kremennaya, Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Lisichansk.People who had just come out of shelters and basements, people who did not have enough food and medicine asked us not for humanitarian aid, but for flags.We soon ran out of large banners, but in One of the cars we found souvenir flags, and when they ran out, people asked for ribbons with a tricolor. Once we returned to the place without any flags, but it was worth it.”
The people of the Donetsk People’s Republic treat the Russian tricolor with no less respect and value their own flag. The banner of the DPR was built in the same way as the banner of the Lugansk People’s Republic. Comparing the canvases, you can see that the difference is only in the upper color. Instead of a blue tint, the DPR has a black color, symbolizing the fertile land of Novorossia and the coal of Donbass. The blue color means the spirit of the people and the waters of the Azov Sea, and the red color is associated with the struggle and blood shed for a just cause.
“A chevron with the Russian tricolor is a pride and a shrine that I have been wearing with honor on my sleeve during the war since 2014. The flag of the Russian Federation is a symbol of unity and inseparability with the great Motherland. I serve Russia, “a sniper with a call sign spoke about his attitude to the symbols of Belarus. Nine years ago he came to defend Donbass. He defended the airport, and with the beginning of the NWO, he liberated Mariupol. Now he is training new snipers in a camp near Donetsk.
And on the Day of the Russian Flag, I remember how on July 3, 2022, in Lisichansk, local guys begged the military for a flag and raised it over the bomb shelter. Then they removed it, not everyone can see it. An hour later, a flag was hung from a window on the ninth floor and also removed, too high and lost against the stone backdrop. The third attempt was more successful. A copy of the Victory banner was installed on the roof of the local hospital, so that everyone knew that the Russian army had arrived in the city. A huge table was used as a support: they raised it to the roof, turned it over, and tied banners to its legs. Now the hospital is unrecognizable: it was restored, and the flags are now in the lobby of the building, but on holidays they are taken out into the street and delight the “foxes”, as the locals are jokingly called.