Public holidays in Ukraine

The following are 11 public holidays in Ukraine.^[1]

During martial law a public holiday is not a non-working day.^[10]

Before the Orthodox Church of Ukraine^[11][12] and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church^[13] switched to the Revised Julian calendar in September 2023 all religious holidays were observed according to the Julian calendar, since then Christmas is officially celebrated on 25 December.^[5] From 2017 to 2022 Christmas was celebrated in Ukraine on 2 different days, 7 January (the date of the holiday according to the Julian calendar) and 25 December (the date of the holiday according to the Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars).^[9] From 2023 Christmas is only officially celebrated in Ukraine on 25 December.^{[14][15][16][17]}

When a public holiday falls on a weekend (e.g. Saturday or Sunday), the following working day (e.g. Monday) turns into an official day off too.

If only one or only two working days are between a public holiday and another day off then the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine usually releases a recommendation to avoid this gap by moving these working days onto a certain Saturday (that is to have uninterrupted vacations, but to compensate this by work on another day which would be a day off). Usually such recommendations only concern those employees whose weekly days off are Saturday and Sunday.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine that started on 24 February 2022 led to a reappraisal of the popularity of the public holidays in Ukraine.^[18] A March 2024 study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that the popularity of Independence Day of Ukraine and Defenders Day had both almost more than doubled (from 37% to 64% and from 29% to 58%) while the popularity of International Women's Day had fallen from being labelled "most beloved" by 49% of respondents in 2017 to 21% in March 2024.^[18]

• 26 March – National Guard Day
• 30 April – Border Guards Day
• 6 May – Day of the Mechanized Infantry
• 18 May – Reservists' Day
• 23 May – Marine Corps Birthday, Heroes of Ukraine Day
• 4 July – Police Day
• 8 July – Air Defence Forces Day
• First Sunday in July – Navy Day;^[19] From 1997 till 2011 this day was celebrated on August 1^[20][21]
• 29 July – Special Operations Forces Day
• 8 August – Signal Corps Day
• 7 September – Military Intelligence Forces Day
• 9 September – Armoured Forces Day
• 14 September – Mobilized Servicemen Day
• First Sunday in October – Territorial Defence Forces Day
• 29 October – Finance Officers Day
• 3 November – Rocket Forces and Artillery Day
• 3 November – Corps of Engineers Day
• 21 November – Air Assault Forces Day^[22][23][24]
• 6 December – Armed Forces Day; festive fireworks and salutes take place in various cities in Ukraine;^[25] The holiday was established in 1993 by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament).^[26]
• 12 December – Ground Forces Day
• 23 December – Operational Servicemen Day

• 5 January – Anniversary of the Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
• 5 January – Epiphany Eve (Second Holy Evening)
• 6 January – Epiphany
• 7 January – Synaxis of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist Saint John
• 20 January – Day of Remembrance of the Ukrainian Defenders of the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport (2014–2015)
• 22 January – Ukrainian Unity Day, marking both the 1918 Fourth Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council and the 1919 Unification Act
• 2 February – Candlemas
• 16 February – Day of Unity
• 20 February – Day of Remembrance of the Fallen Martyrs of Euromaidan, the Heavenly Hundred Heroes
• 21 February – Anniversary of the 2014 victory of the Revolution of Dignity
• 24 February – Mourning Day of the Beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (beginning 2022)
• 26 February – Day of Resistance to Occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol
• 19 March – St. Joseph's Day
• 25 March – Feast of the Annunciation and the Day of the Security Service of Ukraine
• 20 April – Earth Day
• 7 May – Beginning of the Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War and Second World War Remembrance Day (Observance) (beginning 2023–24)
• 9 May – Europe Day and Anniversary of the 1920 Kyiv Polish-Ukrainian Victory Parade
• 14 May – Memorial Day of the Ukrainian Fallen of the Second World War
• 15 May – International Family Day
• 24 May – Saints Cyril and Methodius' Day (also Slavonic Literature and Culture Day)
• 29 May – International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
• 1 June – Ukrainian Children's Day
• 22 June – Day of Remembrance and Sorrow (Anniversary of the Beginning of the Second World War in Ukraine and territories of the former Soviet Union)
• 23 June – Olympic Day and Day of the Ukrainian Civil Service
• 24 June – Kupala Night and the Nativity of John the Baptist
• 29 June – Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
• 15 July – Day of Christianization of Kievan Rus'–Ukraine
• 16 July – Anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine
• 1 August – Honey Feast of the Saviour
• 6 August – Feast of the Transfiguration / Apple Feast of the Saviour
• 12 August – International Youth Day
• 15 August – Feast of the Assumption and Dormition of the Mother of God
• 16 August – Nut Feast of the Saviour
• 23 August – National Flag Day
• 29 August – Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine^[27] (remembrance day of the great Ukrainian casualties during the Battle of Ilovaisk on August 29, 2014)^[27] and Beheading of John the Baptist
• 31 August – Cincture of the Theotokos
• 1 September – Knowledge Day and Eastern Rite Ecclesiastical New Year
• 8 September – Feast of the Nativity of Mary
• 14 September – Feast of the Cross
• 17 September – Adoption Day
• 30 September – All-Ukrainian Day of Libraries
• 1 October – Intercession of the Theotokos, Day of Ukrainian Cossacks, Veterans' Day
• 14 October – Anniversary of the Formation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
• 27 October – Day of Ukrainian Literature and Language
• 28 October – Liberation from Fascism Day
• 31 October – Reformation Day (most Protestant religious denominations in Ukraine)
• 9 November – Day of Ukrainian cultural workers and masters of folk and traditional arts
• 13 November – Reformation Day (Ukrainian Lutheran Church)
• 20 November – International Children's Day (Observance, most celebrations are held on 1 June)
• 21 November – Feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple and Dignity and Freedom Day (the anniversaries of both the first Euromaidan protest day in 2013 and the victory of the 2004 Orange Revolution)
• 6 December – Saint Nicholas Day
• 8 December – Feast of the Immaculate Conception
• 9 December – Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary
• 24 December – Christmas Eve (First Holy Evening), also marked as Day of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine
• 26 December – Boxing Day (Synaxis of Mary the Mother of God and Feast of St. Stephen)
• 31 December – New Year's Eve and Malanka (Bounteous Evening)

• [1] Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Caves – second Sunday of Orthodox Great Lent
• Earth Hour – last Saturday of March (observance)
• Maundy Thursday – marked three days before Western Christian and Orthodox Easter
• Good Friday – marked two days before Western Christian and Orthodox Easter
• Holy Saturday – marked on the Saturday before Western Christian and Orthodox Easter
• Bright Monday – Monday after Orthodox Easter Sunday
• Feast of the Ascension – Thursday eight days before Pentecost
• Pentecost Sunday in the Gregorian Calendar – 7th Sunday after Easter/Pascha as marked by Catholics and most Protestants
• Whit Monday – Monday after Pentecost
• Trinity Sunday – first Sunday after Pentecost
• Feast of Corpus Christi (Catholic Feast) – Thursday after Trinity Sunday
• Holodomor Memorial Day – fourth Saturday of November

• Christmas in Ukraine