The national flag of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Державний прапор України, romanized: Derzhavnyi prapor Ukrayiny, pronounced [derˈʒɑu̯nɪj ˈprɑpor ʊkrɐˈjinɪ]) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow. The blue and yellow bicolor flag was first seen during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg (Lviv), the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria within the Austrian Empire. The tradition began with the flag of the Ukrainian SSR. == Controversies and criticism == === Origin === One claimed version is that, since one of the first known coloured depictions of the coat of arms of Kyiv was mainly in yellow-blue colours, this tradition may have existed since the time of the Nordic-Slavic Grand Prince of Kyiv Volodymyr the Great.