The Ukrainian parliament has approved in the second reading and in general the law draft law No 15206 on the establishment of an annual public holiday – the Day of Ukrainian Music – on the third Saturday of September.
According to the correspondent of the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”, during the plenary session on Wednesday, 27 June, the decision was supported by 292 people’s deputies, not a single vote against.
As reported, the draft resolution No. 15053 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on 3 March.
As noted in the explanatory note, the choice of this date has historical and symbolic significance. The date is associated with the events of the festival “Chervona Ruta” in 1989 in Chernivtsi, when on 24 September at the closing of the festival for the first time publicly sounded the then banned anthem “Ukraine is not dead yet”. The events of the festival were widely covered by Western radio stations, which helped to draw the attention of the world community to the aspirations of the Ukrainian people. The initiative to establish the Day of Ukrainian Music was expressed by representatives of the music industry during a meeting with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada on 18 September 2025.
Among the authors of the draft resolution are Oleksandr Sanchenko (faction “Servant of the People”), Mykola Knyazhytskyy (“European Solidarity”), Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
The 1st All-Ukrainian Festival of Contemporary Songs and Popular Music “Chervona Ruta” was held on 17-24 September 1989 in Chernivtsi.