National Anthem

"Shche ne Vmerla Ukrainy" (“Ukraine's Glory Has Not Perished”)

Date of Adoption: 1991 (music); 2003 (lyrics)

Music by: Mykhaylo Verbytskyi

Lyrics by: Pavlo Chubynsky

Ukraine's national anthem "Shche ne Vmerla Ukrainy" is based on a patriotic poem written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynsky, a highly-regarded ethnographer from Kiev. The score was composed around 1863 by the Greek-Catholic priest and western Ukrainian composer Mykhaylo Verbytskyi. This composition was first performed in 1864 in Lvov as a choral work and was adopted as a national anthem at the time of Ukraine's brief independence from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. 

In 1920 Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union, and "Shche ne Vmerla Ukrainy" was banned. From 1949 until 1991, Ukraine used a different national anthem written by Pavel Tychina. In 1978 Mikola Bazhan changed that song's text by removing a reference to Stalin in the second verse. In 1991 upon independence from the Soviet Union, the prior anthem, "Shche ne Vmerla Ukrainy," was restored. The lyrics were revised in 2003 by replacing the first line "Ukraine hasn't yet died, nor has her glory or freedom" with “Ukraine's glory hasn't perished, nor her freedom.”

Ukranian Lyrics (Cyrillic Script)

Transliteration

Shche ne vmerla Ukraini, ny slava, ny volja,
Shche nam, brattja - ukraincy, usmyzhnetjsja dolja,
Zginutj nashi voryzhenjki, jak rosa na soncy,
Zazhivemo y mi, brattja, u svoij storoncy.

CHORUS:
Dushu j tylo mi polozhim za nashu svobodu
Y pokazhem, shcho mi, brattja, kozacjkogo rodu.
Dushu j tylo mi polozhim za nashu svobodu
Y pokazhem, shcho mi, brattja, kozacjkogo rodu.

English Translation

Ukraine's glory hasn't perished, nor her freedom
Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.

CHORUS:
We'll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we'll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.
We'll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we'll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.