Ukraine marches ahead with decoupling from Soviet past by abolishing “kopiyka” coin

Ukraine plans to replace the name of its smallest currency unit, the “kopiyka,” with a distinctly Ukrainian term — “shah” — and introduce the new designation later this year.

Ukraine adopted its national currency, the hryvnia, in 1996, five years after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. At that time, the country minted its own coins but kept the old Soviet-era name “kopeyka” (in Ukrainian: kopiyka). The new coins will revive the historical Ukrainian term shah (or shag), once used for small denominations in the country’s past.

According to an explanatory note attached to draft law No. 14093 submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, the 1996 monetary reform was a major success and remains one of the milestones of Ukraine’s economic independence. However, it also acknowledged that the country has yet to fully sever the symbolic ties connecting its financial system to Russia.

“As a result, even 34 years after declaring independence, Ukraine’s monetary circulation still contains a denominator that links our country to Russia — the name of the small change coin ‘kopiyka,’ which remains enshrined in law,” the document states.

“This decision carries not only technical but also symbolic significance,” explained Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, one of the bill’s co-authors. “‘kopiyka’ is a legacy of the Moscow Empire and the Soviet past, while ‘shah’ is a historic Ukrainian term that was used during the Hetmanate and the Ukrainian People’s Republic.”

The word shah (literally translating as “step”) was used as a monetary unit in Ukrainian territories in the 16th–17th centuries. Banknotes bearing the same name also circulated during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921. Andriy Pyshny, head of the National Bank of Ukraine, noted that the kopiyka has survived in only three of the fifteen former Soviet republics — Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

Some critics have questioned the timing of the renaming effort, given the strain on Ukraine’s wartime budget, as pointed out in a Reuters report. However, Pyshny assured that no additional costs will be incurred: the only coin still in circulation in Ukraine — the 50-kopiyka piece — will simply be replaced over time by a new 50-shah coin.

By Nazrin Sadigova