What is Defenders Day in Ukraine?
Why Ukraine honours its soldiers on 1 October, and why the date moved
Defenders Day (Ukrainian: День захисників та захисниць України, “Day of the Defenders of Ukraine”) is a public holiday on 1 October honouring Ukraine’s soldiers, veterans and fallen defenders, women and men. It was created in 2014, during the war with Russia, to replace the Soviet-era Defender of the Fatherland Day on 23 February, and was first marked in 2015. It was held on 14 October until a 2023 law moved it to 1 October.
Every 1 October, Ukraine sets aside a day for the people defending it. The holiday is barely a decade old, but its date reaches back to the Cossacks and an Orthodox feast, its name was changed to include women, and its date has already moved once.
- Date
- 1 October (14 October from 2015 to 2022)
- Ukrainian name
- День захисників та захисниць України
- Honours
- Veterans and fallen members of Ukraine’s armed forces
- Established
- Decree of President Petro Poroshenko, 14 October 2014
- First observed
- 2015
- Replaced
- Defender of the Fatherland Day (23 February)
- Renamed to include women
- 2021
- Moved to 1 October
- 2023
What does Defenders Day celebrate?
It honours veterans and fallen members of Ukraine’s armed forces. The full Ukrainian name, Den zakhysnykiv ta zakhysnyts Ukrainy, means “Day of the Defenders of Ukraine”, using both the masculine and the feminine word for “defenders”.
Why was it created?
President Petro Poroshenko created “Defender of Ukraine Day” by decree on 14 October 2014, months into the Russo-Ukrainian War and as part of Ukraine’s campaign of decommunization. Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved it on 5 March 2015, and it was first celebrated that year.
It replaced Defender of the Fatherland Day on 23 February, a holiday inherited from the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine had been part until it declared independence on 24 August 1991. On Independence Day in 2014, Poroshenko said Ukraine should no longer mark the holidays of Russia’s military-historical calendar: “We will honor the defenders of our homeland, not someone else’s.”
Why was it first held on 14 October?
14 October was the feast of the Intercession of the Theotokos, the Protection of the Mother of God, which Ukrainians have celebrated since the 12th century. The Cossacks, who regarded the Mother of God as their patroness, celebrated it from at least the 17th century; soldiers of the Ukrainian People’s Army took up its military symbolism during the war of independence of 1917 to 1920; and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army chose it as its official founding day, 14 October 1942. Volodymyr Viatrovych, head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, cited that tradition of honouring the army when the date was chosen.
Why did it move to 1 October?
Because the feast moved. Under a calendar reform adopted by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Intercession has been celebrated on 1 October since 2023. After its Bishops’ Council in May 2023, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine asked the authorities to move the holiday with it.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted a draft law on 28 June 2023; the Verkhovna Rada passed it on 14 July 2023 with 241 votes; and Zelenskyy signed it, with Decree No. 455/2023, on 28 July 2023.
Why does the name mention women?
Ukrainian distinguishes male and female forms of “defender”: zakhysnyk and zakhysnytsia. The holiday was originally named only in the masculine form. On 14 July 2021 parliament changed the official name to include both, explicitly to recognise the women defending Ukraine.
How widely is it celebrated?
It took time to catch on. In 2017 only 10% of Ukrainians told the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology that they celebrated it, and in 2021 29% said the holiday was popular with them. Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 changed that: a KIIS study in March 2024 found its popularity had risen from 29% to 58%, while Independence Day rose from 37% to 64%.
The state has marked it in stamps and coins. Ukrposhta issued a “Day of the Defender of Ukraine” stamp in 2015 and an “Under the Protection of the Theotokos” stamp for 1 October 2024, and in 2015 the National Bank of Ukraine issued 50,000 commemorative 5-hryvnia coins, beginning its “Armed Forces of Ukraine” series.
Timeline
- 24 Aug 2014Poroshenko says Ukraine will stop marking Russia’s military holidays.
- 14 Oct 2014Defender of Ukraine Day is created by presidential decree.
- 5 Mar 2015The Verkhovna Rada approves the holiday.
- 14 Oct 2015First Defender of Ukraine Day.
- 14 Jul 2021Renamed to include women defenders.
- 24 Feb 2022Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine begins.
- 28 Jul 2023Zelenskyy signs the law moving the holiday to 1 October.
- 1 Oct 2023First Defenders Day on the new date.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Defenders Day (Ukraine), history, the Intercession of the Theotokos, the 2021 renaming, the 2023 date change, polls and commemorations.
Quotes are as reported in these sources. Found a mistake, or something out of date? Write to info@wikidrift.com.
Keep drifting
Ask WikiDrift, and get an answer written from Wikipedia with every claim linked to its source.
More in Culture.