Danylo Myhal, who was born and raised in the Thunder Bay area and lives in the nearby small town of Lappe, has roots in Ukraine and has been flying the flag since 1972. But it was four years later that the flag, and Myhal himself, found themselves on the international stage, during an Olympic soccer semi-final match between the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the transcontinental country that existed until 1991) and Eastern of Germany in Montreal. The USSR team, Myhal said, consisted mostly of players from Ukrainian Premier League side Dynamo Kyiv. “So I made a protest,” he said. “I ran from the top of the field to under the safety, I hit the railing, [jumped] 12 feet down, and I ran around shouting in front of the team and everyone ‘Freedom for Ukraine’ in English.” During the 15-second protest, Myhal also performed the Ukrainian folk dance hopak. Police then escorted Myhal off the field. He was held at a Montreal jail until 11 p.m. However, he had stuffed the flag into his shirt and managed to keep it. The issue garnered coverage in the Western media, including the New York Times, which wrote about the incident in its July 27, 1976 edition. “A local group calling itself the Olympic Committee of Ukraine staged a protest tonight at the Olympic Stadium during a soccer match between the Soviet Union and East Germany,” the brief story said. “The group of about 100 banners and one of the protesters ran onto the field at one point, waving a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag.” The paper goes on to quote a spokesman for the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, who said the group exists “simply to draw attention to the fact that while Ukraine, which has a population of more than 50 million, is a member of the United Nations, it is not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games separately and outside the Soviet Union’. Despite the protest, the Soviet team won the match against East Germany 2-1. Yulia Kovalev, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, told CBC News that the protest was “a very famous moment to demonstrate the Ukrainian sense of freedom.” “It was a very brave move at the time.” Myhal runs on the field holding a Ukrainian flag during the 1976 Olympic football match between East Germany and the USSR. The flag is now in Ukraine for flag day celebrations. (ukrinform.net) He said that at the time, the USSR was “trying to undermine all Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian identity.” Now, nearly 50 years later, Myhal’s protest has garnered more attention, this time from Ukraine itself. Last week, Myhal received a surprise call from the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa asking if he would be willing to part with the flag so it could be flown to Ukraine for Tuesday’s National Flag Day and Ukraine’s Independence Day. Wednesday, which marks Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of independence from the USSR The request, Myhal said, apparently came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Oleksandr Shevchenko, Consul General of Ukraine in Toronto, came to Thunder Bay last week to receive the flag, meeting Myhal at the city’s airport. He said that at the time, Myhal’s protest was not shown in Ukraine, as Western media broadcasts could not be shown there. Shevchenko said last week that the flag was returning to Toronto with him and would then make its journey back to Ukraine, likely via Poland. “When people in Ukraine will see this flag and we will learn about the story of Danylo and how he showed, even in a time that was unimaginable, in the Soviet era. … it gives courage to people.” Shevchenko said. “[A] the fight is now…against the leadership in the Kremlin, which dreams of restoring the Soviet Union and the Soviet empire. “And we must fight.” Shakhtar’s Mykhaylo Mudryk, left, challenges for a ball during a 2021 Champions League match between Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine in Kyiv. The flag will be displayed at Premier League matches across the country this season. (Efrem Lutatsky/The Associated Press) Russia launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24 to demilitarize its smaller neighbor and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperialist-style war of conquest. The conflict, Europe’s biggest since World War II, has destroyed towns and cities, killed thousands, forced millions abroad and deepened a volatile geopolitical standoff between Russia and the West. Zelensky warned over the weekend of the risk of more serious attacks ahead of the anniversary of the country’s independence from Russian-Soviet rule.
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Ukraine has banned mass public gatherings for the next few days ahead of the country’s Independence Day on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Russia could try “something particularly nasty” this week. Kovaliv confirmed this week that the flag had arrived safely in Ukraine. In addition to Tuesday’s display during National Flag Day, Myhal’s flag will be displayed in several cities at Ukrainian Premier League games after the league resumes this week. Myhal said he was “honored” to send the flag to Ukraine. “I am shocked and honored and blessed that the president of Ukraine would want to see this flag,” he said. “Maybe he’ll keep it. “I’m just overwhelmed.”
