Ukrainian flags on Polish equipment during the parade? No

After military parade on the occasion of Polish Army Day On August 15, 2024, some social media users asked why Polish vehicles, including tanks, were flying blue and yellow, which they believed to be Ukrainian flags. Still others criticized this alleged decision and wrote that they believed Polish-Ukrainian cooperation had gone too far, since on such an important holiday the flag of that country is displayed next to the Polish one.

“I don't understand why during the Polish army parade there is also a Ukrainian flag on every military vehicle. The question is, are we a Polish-Ukrainian state?”; “I know there is a war in Ukraine, I know that we support it with military equipment. Only 7805136?”; “Today is Polish Army Day. By what right were Ukrainian flags attached to Polish army vehicles at the parade?”; “#SwietoWojskaPolskiego what are Ukrainian flags doing there? Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz what are you doing?” – asked Internet users (original spelling of all entries in the text).

Some at the parade also noticed a pennant in the black and red colors used in the past by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which was co-responsible for the genocide of Polish civilians in Volhynia in 1943-1944. “What flag do you see on the antenna of this vehicle? Shame, what is it supposed to be? Polish Army Day or recognition of Bandera? There are also numerous Ukrainian flags. Ready for the east? Then don't stop. Maybe you'll be lucky to return in sacks,” wrote one Facebook user, adding a screenshot of one of the recordings of the parade available on YouTube. The Stepan Bandera mentioned in his post was a Ukrainian nationalist and leader of the OUN-B (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), which played a key role in inspiring and carrying out the Volhynia massacre.

Let us clarify: first, these are not state flags, but military pennants. Second, they have nothing to do with Ukraine.

Nearly 2.5 thousand soldiers of the Polish Army and allied forces, including from the United States and Romania, took part in a ceremonial parade organized on the occasion of Polish Armed Forces Day on August 15, 2024 in Warsaw. They were accompanied by almost 220 pieces of military ground equipment, including Abrams tanks, Rosomak and Borsuk transporters, Krab and K9 gun-howitzers and HIMARS rocket launchers.

READ MORE: Tanks, howitzers, transporters, fighters on a grand parade

Pennants, or flags in the shape of a triangle or two connected rectangular trapezoids, were attached to the machines. These are not state flags: the white-red ones were most often placed near the vehicle registration plates. Polish flags were also placed along the entire parade route. The colors of the pennants, on the other hand, indicated the military unit to which the equipment belonged.

And so: pennants considered by some Internet users to be “Ukrainian flags” these are pennants 17th Greater Poland Mechanized Brigadewhich showed Rosomak armoured personnel carriers at the parade. Interestingly, although the unit's pennant actually has the blue and yellow colours that could be seen in the television broadcast, it is only when you zoom in that there is also a strip of white and red between them.

Yet another pennant in yellow and blue colors was seen, among others, on the Poprad anti-aircraft missile system vehicles and the Korean K2 Black Panther tanks. These are the colors 20th Bartoszyce Mechanized Brigade. This pennant is also not only yellow and blue: in the upper part there is a symbol of the brigade with the image of a bird and a horseshoe, and in the lower part the number 20.

Internet users also discussed a red and black pennant described by some as a symbol of the Ukrainian UPA. However, it also has nothing to do with Ukraine. It was placed on the MS-20 Daglezja vehicle, a foldable accompanying bridge on a wheeled chassis, which has been part of the equipment of the 2nd Stargard Sapper Battalion. The red and black colors of the Polish Army are intended precisely for sapper units.

A separate thread of the parade widely commented on in social media was a banner with the visible emblem of Poland – a white eagle in a crown next to the emblem of Ukraine – a tryzub. One of the most popular posts with a frame showing this banner and the caption: “I knew they would do something like this…” was viewed by over 342 thousand users of the X service. “This is one of the most disgusting things I've seen lately! Disgusting”; “How easy it was to predict…”; “The construction of Ukropolin is gaining momentum” – Internet users commented on the post.

In this case, there is already a connection with Ukraine, but probably not the kind that the authors of the quoted posts and comments thought about. The photo shows representation of the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade composed of military units of these three countries. On the left side of the banner, you can see a piece of the Lithuanian coat of arms – the Vytis, and the soldier visible on the left side represents the Lithuanian Armed Forces, as evidenced by the Lithuanian flag patch on his shoulder. On the banner, apart from the emblems of the three countries, there is also an inscription: “United for peace”, which can be seen in archival photos available, for example, on the brigade's Facebook account.

The brigade began to be formed in 2009 and reached full operational readiness in 2017. It has about 4.5 thousand soldiers and is stationed in Lublin. In its national structure, it is to refer to the traditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the past, false information has been published about the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade several times, consistent with the goals of Russian disinformation. In 2022, at Konkret24 we refuted the claimthat soldiers from the brigade are to go to Ukraine on a peace mission, and in 2023 we verified false information that the Ministry of National Defense was to recruit Poles to the brigade. In both cases, the authors of the fakes even created false documents to confirm their messages.

It is also not the first time that fake news about allegedly Ukrainian flags on Polish military equipment, which are in fact pennants of Polish units, has appeared on social media. In March 2024 we wrote about the pennant of the 20th Mechanized Brigade, whose colors, then as now, were associated by some with Ukraine. In November 2022 we explained however, that the blue and yellow colors of the 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division also have nothing to do with Ukraine, as they have been used in this unit for over 100 years. “In general, mechanized troops have these colors: whether they are brigades or battalions, all mechanized units have blue and yellow colors,” explained Maj. Magdalena Kościńska, spokeswoman for the division, in an interview with Konkret24.