The absence of a registration number on the vehicle entails the imposition of a fine on the driver and is considered a violation of the Rules road traffic Ukraine.

Below is the data about the license plates of Ukraine, the classification of the license plate by region, by the type of vehicle, the marking of military and diplomatic vehicles, the history of creation and decoding legend license plate in Ukraine.

Ukrainian license plates: how did they change after 1991?

Modern license plates in Ukraine trace their history back to the beginning of the proclamation of the country's independence in 1991. Until that time in Ukraine, as well as on the territory the former USSR, used unified license plates. In the first years of independence and the building of a sovereign state in Ukraine, its own numbers were developed. A new standard was introduced, which not only classified vehicles by region, but introduced the license plate marking with the color designation of the state flag and the abbreviation UA.

In subsequent years, license plates in Ukraine have changed several more times, their general design and shape. Car numbers were introduced for transit cars, special vehicles, as well as a special letter designation for cities with a special status. At that time, Kiev and Sevastopol were endowed with such a status. Special numbers were assigned to vehicles of senior officials, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and for carriers of technological equipment. Previously operating diplomatic and military numbers have retained their special status, but their design has undergone changes with the acquisition of Ukraine's independence.

Types of license plates in Ukraine

Depending on the types of vehicles, departmental or service affiliation, as well as for transit or use on non-standard transport, license plates in Ukraine are for:

• cars;
• trailers;
• buses, minibuses and taxis;
• motorcycles;
• mopeds;
• cars with a license plate attachment point different from the standard;
• transit vehicles;
• one-time trips issued when buying a vehicle from a car dealer (including for mopeds and motorcycles);
• diplomatic missions;
• technical staff of diplomatic missions (without diplomatic status);
• individual car numbers, which consist of a set of letters, names, words;
• individual motorcycle numbers (words, names);
• transit numbers for deregistered vehicles;
• Vehicles belonging to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Border Guard Service and the emergencies(including for top management these departments);
• TS owned by volunteer organizations and / or volunteer battalions;
• Vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, including for vehicles of the ministry's apparatus;
• technological vehicles.

Car numbers by regions of Ukraine

Regional codes for license plates have an alphabetic designation consisting of two letters written in Cyrillic, but having analogs in the Latin alphabet. There are twelve such letters in the Ukrainian alphabet: A, B, E, I, K, M, H, O, P, C, T, X. The correspondence between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet is necessary to identify national numbers on international routes, abroad.

Due to the growth in the number of vehicles in 2013, changes were made to the coding of license plates by region. At the same time, the old coding options remained in force, supplemented by new options. For example: if the old designation was AA, now, along with it, KA is also used.

Thus, the first letter in the license plate A is replaced by K,

B - to H, and C is replaced by the letter I.

Regions of Ukraine (numbers)	Name region	Original code	Updated code
	Kiev region
	Vinnytsia region
	Volyn region
	Dnipropetrovsk region
	Donetsk region
	Zhytomyr Oblast
	Transcarpathian region
	Zaporozhye region
	Ivano-Frankivsk region
	Kirovograd region
	Lugansk region
	Lviv region
	Nikolaevkskaya area
	Odessa region
	Poltava region
	Rovenskaya region
	Sumy region
	Ternopil region
	Kharkov region
	Kherson region
	Khmelnitsky region
	Cherkasy region
	Chernihiv region
	Chernivtsi region
	Sevastopol

Diplomatic license plates in Ukraine

Until 2004, the license plates of diplomatic missions had a red or yellow background. Now they are depicted on a white background with the corresponding code and letter designation of belonging to a particular country.

Codes of automobile diplomatic numbers in Ukraine

Number code	Affiliation of the diplomatic mission (country)
	Russia (RF)
	Great Britain
	Germany
	Bulgaria
	Australia
	Belarus
	DPRK (previously operated, now a backup number)
	Mongolia
	Argentina
	Portugal
	Slovakia
	Norway
	Switzerland
	Azerbaijan
	South Korea
	Brazil
	Croatia
	Finland
	Seychelles
	United Nations
	Slovenia
	Philippines
	Pakistan
	World Bank (IBRD)
	Singapore
	Ireland
	Netherlands
	Kazakhstan
	Kyrgyzstan
	Tajikistan
	Uzbekistan
	Turkmenistan
	Liechtenstein
	Indonesia
	Luxembourg
	OSCE (until 2004)
	Red Cross Organization
	Afghanistan
	STCU (Ukrainian Science and Technology Center)
	Previously belonged to Yugoslavia
	Macedonia
	NATO (communications department)
	NATO (information center)
	New Zealand
	Bangladesh
	EU Commission
	EBRD (European Bank)
	Service Series
	OSCE (until 2004)

Military and special numbers in Ukraine

In addition to coding license plates for civil and commercial vehicles of general purpose and diplomatic numbers, there is a special numbering system for vehicles belonging to military formations subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, other state ministries and departments that make up the so-called power bloc of the country.

To designate the license plates of the vehicles of these formations, an alphanumeric combination is used (see table).

Number coding	Ministry / department
A, B, E, K, H, P, C, T - cars, I, M, O, X - trailers).	Ukrainian Armed Forces (Armed Forces of Ukraine)
Ф4 - for vehicles, Ф5 - for trailers	National Guard of Ukraine
	State Special Transport Service
	SBU (Security Service of Ukraine)
C2 (vehicles), O2 (trailers)	State service of special communications
Y with numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7	State Border Service of Ukraine (State Border Service)
	State Service for Emergency Situations of Ukraine
	Society for the Assistance to the Defense of Ukraine

Reserved numbers (letter series) in Ukraine

Series / Code	Who owns
AA (0001-1000)	Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
	Administration of the city of Kiev
BB (00xx, 29xx, 99xx	State protection
VR, KA ((00xx, 77xx), KI (00xx, 77xx)	VRU (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine)
	Supreme Court of Ukraine
KA (33xx), KI (33xx), KS (33xx), KV (33xx), KK (33xx), KT (33xx), II (33xx), KM	Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
	NBU (National Bank of Ukraine)
	MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine)
KS (00xx, 70xx)	Constitutional Court of Ukraine
MM (00xx), TT (00xx)	Cars of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Obsolete coding of license plates of Ukraine

room	Name region	Letter code
		KA, KI, KB, KE, KN (KI, XT)
	Kiev region	KK, KX, KM (KX)
	Vinnytsia region	ВI, ВТ, ВX (ВИ)
	Volyn region	BO, BK, BM (BH)
	Dnipropetrovsk region	AA, AB, AE, AK, AH (DH, DP)
	Donetsk region	EA, EB, EK, EH, EO, EC (DO, DC, CL)
	Zhytomyr Oblast
	Transcarpathian region
	Zaporozhye region	HA, HЕ, HО, НP, HС (ЗП, ЗP)
	Ivano-Frankivsk region	IB, IC (IB, CЯ)
	Kirovograd region	OM, OH, OC (KD)
	Lugansk region	AM, AO, AP, AT, AX (BG, LU)
	Lviv region	TA, TV, TH, TC (LV)
	Nikolaevkskaya area	HI, HK, HT (HI)
	Odessa region	ОA, ОB, ОE, ОK (ОД, ОE)
	Poltava region	CK, CH, CC (PO)
	Rovenskaya region	PB, PA, PO (PB)
	Sumy region	CА, CВ, CЕ (CU)
	Ternopil region	TE, TI, TK (TE)
	Kharkov region	XA, XE, XI, XK (XA, XK)
	Kherson region
	Khmelnitsky region
	Cherkasy region	MA, MB, ME (CHK)
	Chernihiv region	MK, MM, MH (CHH, CHT)
	Chernivtsi region	MO, MP, MC (BW)
		KP, KO, KT (KP, TsS)
	Sevastopol

Database of car numbers in Ukraine

On the platform of the state site electronic services iGov is in test mode with a car search service by state numbers. Thus, anyone can "punch" a car number in Ukraine for free, but after registering on the site and providing their data. The functionality of the service can be seen.

Other specialized resources offer services for searching car numbers in Ukraine with access to the database. Therefore, it will not be difficult to check the car by number. The license plate database in Ukraine opened recently, and earlier access was either paid or through third-party resources that provided such a service not entirely legally.

Possible letter combinations in license plates

Car numbers by region can have the following letter combinations:

Obviously, the classification and typification of car numbers has a wide gradation in terms of belonging, nature of use, legal status and regions of Ukraine. Specialists and representatives of the road inspection are able to read them correctly. However, the information that is publicly available on the Internet can be useful for all road users.

When registering a vehicle, the car owner is given a car number, which, as mentioned above, is a mandatory attribute of any vehicle. If for any reason the license plate is lost or unusable, you should register and get a new one. To do this, you should contact the territorial body of the service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In the manufacture of license plates, a standard material (metal, paint) is used. When ordering personalized numbers, you should avoid repetitions of number and letter combinations of state numbers, and also exclude swear words. The services for the manufacture of named license plates in Ukraine are handled by service centers, which, for an additional fee, will not only make a number, but also take over all the paperwork in the service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Car plate numbers Ukraine consists of 8 characters: two pairs of letters and four numbers. The format of a typical license plate is AA 0000 BB (for some structures, vehicles have license plates in a different format). The first two letters identify the region of the country, the second pair of letters is the number plate series. On the left side of the number there is an area symbolizing the flag of Ukraine - with blue and yellow zones. The coat of arms of Ukraine is depicted on a blue background, on a yellow background there is a country code - UA. The size of the license plate is 520 × 112 mm. The numbers used in Ukraine to date were introduced in 2004.

Codification

The table below lists the regions of Ukraine and the corresponding letter combinations used on license plates.

Room types

In Ukraine, 10 types of license plates are used, each of which corresponds to a particular type of transport.

• 1 - cars, trailers, buses
• 2 - for one-time trips by cars, trailers and buses
• 3 - a special type of plates for vehicles for the transport of persons in respect of whom state protection is carried out
• 4 - diplomatic missions, consulates, representations of international organizations, family members of their staff
• 5 - motorcycles, motorized carriages, scooters
• 6 - transit numbers for motorcycles, strollers, scooters
• 7 - custom license plates
• 8 - tractors, trailers for them, self-propelled vehicles
• 9 - Armed Forces of Ukraine, Border Guard, Ministry of Emergency Situations
• 10 - mototechnics Armed Forces Ukraine, Border Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations

License plate colors

Car license plates of Ukraine may have different colour background. The color determines the belonging of the vehicle to a particular structure / type of vehicle.

• White - civilian transport
• Yellow - buses, route taxis, taxis
• Red - transit number
• Black - Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergencies
• Blue - police

Diplomatic missions have numbers on a white background with the letter D, a three-digit country code, a three-digit number. Country codes are set in the range: 001..199 - diplomatic mission, 200..299 - international organization, 300..399 - consular organization. The last three digits are the serial number of the vehicle.

On a black background of military license plates there are 4 digits of the serial number, structure code, and a digit. Codes: A - Ministry of Defense, B - Military traffic inspectorate, E - Naval forces of Ukraine, R - Repair enterprises of the Ministry of Defense, C - Construction troops, T - Transport troops, X - Trailers, H - Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Police license plates have a blue background with 4 digits of the serial number and two digits in the lower left corner, identifying the region of Ukraine.

Car country codes are required to identify the state of registration of the car. Previously, a sticker was used for this purpose, on which the country code was indicated in capital letters. The distinctive sign of the country of registration must be affixed to the rear of the vehicle near the registration plate and may also be included in the vehicle registration number. If the distinguishing sign is included in the registration number, it must also appear on the front registration plate of the vehicle.

The distinctive sign may be supplemented by the flag or emblem of a nation-state or the emblem of the regional economic integration organization to which the country belongs. The insignia must be displayed in the leftmost or rightmost corner of the registration plate. If there is a symbol / flag / emblem on the registration number, the decal must be placed in the leftmost position on the registration plate.

IN Lately countries are moving to the definition of ownership on registration plates. For example, in the European Union countries, this code is displayed on the standard registration number of the car. In this case, the sticker is no longer required.

Nevertheless, there were cases (for example, in Germany) when a fine was issued for her absence. To avoid misunderstandings, even if you don’t want to stick it, it’s better to carry the sticker with you and stick it on demand.

According to the Convention on International Traffic, the sticker must be made in the form of an ellipse, the main axis of which is horizontal, and the letters must be black on a white background.

Data in all tables can be sorted in ascending / descending order by clicking on the column header.

European car codes

European car codes

The code	Country	Valid with	Previous Code	Notes (edit)
A	Austria	1910
ABH *	Abkhazia	2006
AL	Albania	1934
AM	Armenia	1992	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
AND	Andorra	1957
AX *	Åland Islands	2002	SF	Official code - FIN
AZ	Azerbaijan	1993	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
B	Belgium	1910
BG	Bulgaria	1910
BIH	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1992	YU	Formerly part of the SFRY
BY	Belarus	1992	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
BZH *	Brittany			Region in northwest France
CAT *	Catalonia			Autonomous Community of Spain, located in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula
CD *	diplomatic corps
CH	Switzerland	1911		C onfoederatio H elvetica
CY	Cyprus	1932
CYM *	Wales	1932		Cym ru
CZ	Czech Republic	1993	CS	Formerly part of Czechoslovakia
D	Germany	1910		D eutschland
DK	Denmark	1914
E	Spain	1910		E spaña
EH *	French Basque Country			Located in the southwestern part of the French department of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques
ENG *	England
EST	Estonia	1993	EW 1919-1940 & 1991-1993 SU 1940–1991	Formerly part of the USSR
F	France	1910
FIN	Finland	1993	SF	Suomi Finland
FIN	Liechtenstein	1923		Fürstentum L iechtenstein
Fo	Faroe islands	1996	FR 1976-1996	Fø royar
GB	Great Britain	1910
GBA	Alderney	1924		G reat B ritain - A lderney
GBG	Guernsey	1924		G reat B ritain - G uernsey
GBJ	Jersey	1924		G reat B ritain - J ersey
GBM	Isle Of Man	1932		G reat B ritain - M an
GBZ	Gibraltar	1924		G reat B ritain - Gibraltar ( Z used since G is already in use for Guernsey)
GE	Georgia	1992	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
GEO	Georgia	1992	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
GR	Greece	1913
H	Hungary	1910
HR	Croatia	1992	SHS 1919-1929 Y 1929-1953 YU 1953–1992	Hr vatska. Formerly part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, then part of the SFRY
I	Italy	1919
IRL	Ireland	1962	GB - 1910 SE - 1924 EIR - 1938	Formerly part of Great Britain and the Irish Free State (1922-1937). Used in conjunction with the EIR code.
IS	Iceland	1936
KN *	Greenland	1910	GRO	K alaallit N unaat. Official code - DK
L	Luxembourg	1911
LT	Lithuania	1992	SU 1940–1991	Formerly part of the USSR
LV	Latvia	1992	LR 1927-1940 SU 1940–1991	Formerly part of the USSR
M	Malta	1966	GBY 1924–66
MC	Monaco	1910
MD	Moldavia	1992	SU - 1991	Formerly part of the USSR
NMK	North Macedonia	2019	YU - 1992 MK - 2019	Formerly part of the SFRY. From 1992 to 2019 Macedonia.
MNE	Montenegro	2006	MN 1913-1919 SHS 1919-1929 Y 1929-1953 YU 1953-2003 SCG 2003-2006	Independent nation until 1918. After that, part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, then part of the SFRY, and then Serbia and Montenegro (Serbia and Krna Gora - Serbian). Independence was restored in 2006.
N	Norway	1922
NIR *	Northern Ireland			N orthern Ir eland
NL	Netherlands	1910
P	Portugal	1910
PL	Poland	1921
PMR *	Transnistria	1990
RKS	Kosovo	2010	KS
RO	Romania	1981	R 1930-1981
RSM	San marino	1932
RSO *	South Ossetia
RUS	Russia	1992	R 1910-1917 SU 1917–1992
S	Sweden	1911
SCO *	Scotland
SCV *	Vatican
SK	Slovakia	1993	CS 1919-1939 & 1945-1992 SQ 1939-1945	Formerly part of Czechoslovakia
SLO	Slovenia	1992	SHS 1919-1929 Y 1929-1953 YU 1953–1992	Formerly part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, then part of the SFRY
SMOM	Sovereign Order of Malta			S overeign M ilitary O rder of M alta
SRB	Serbia	2006	SB - 1919 SHS 1919-1929 Y 1929-1953 YU 1953-2003 SCG 2003-2006	Formerly part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, then part of the SFRY, and then Serbia and Montenegro (Serbia and Krna Hora - Serbian). Independence was restored in 2006.
TR	Turkey	1923
UA	Ukraine	1992	SU	Formerly part of the USSR
V	Vatican	1931		SCV (Stato della Città del Vaticano) is used as a prefix on the license plate itself
VL *	Flanders	1923		Historical area in the territory of modern France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

* - unofficial code

America car codes

The code	Country	Valid with	Previous Code	Notes (edit)
AG *	Antigua and Barbuda
ARU *	Aruba
AXA *	Anguilla
BDS	Barbados	1955
BH	Belize	1938		B ritish H onduras. After gaining independence and changing the name, the state did not notify about the change of the code
BOL	Bolivia	1967
BR	Brazil	1930
BS	Bahamas	1950
BVI	British Virgin Islands	1910
C	Cuba	1930
CND	Canada	1956	CA
CO	Colombia	1952
CR	Costa Rica	1956
DOM	Dominican Republic	1952
EC	Ecuador	1962
ES	Salvador	1978
GCA	Guatemala	1956
GUY	Guyana	1972	BRG	Formerly British Guiana
HN *	Honduras
JA	Jamaica	1932
KAN *	Saint Kitts and Nevis			Saint K itts a nd N evis
MEX	Mexico	1952
NA	Netherlands antilles	1957
NIC	Nicaragua	1952
PA	Panama	1952
PE	Peru	1937
PR *	Puerto Rico
PY	Paraguay	1952
RA	Argentina	1927		R epública A rgentina
RCH	Chile	1930		R epública de Ch ile
RH	Haiti	1952
SME	Suriname	1936
TT	Trinidad and Tobago	1964	TD
USA	USA	1952	US
UY	Uruguay	2012	U 1930-1979 ROU 1979-2012
WD	Dominica	1954
WG	Grenada	1932
WL	Saint Lucia	1932
Wv	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1932
YV	Venezuela	1962

* - unofficial code

Asia car codes

American car codes

The code	Country	Valid with	Previous Code	Notes (edit)
AFG	Afghanistan	1971
BD	Bangladesh	1978	PAK	Formerly East Pakistan
BRN	Bahrain	1954
BRU	Brunei	1956
BRU	Brunei	1956
BT	Butane		BHT
CL	Sri Lanka	1961		Previously C ey l on
CN *	People's Republic of China
HK *	Hong Kong	1932		H ong K ong
HKJ	Jordan	1966	JOR	H ashemite K ingdom of J ordan
IL	Israel	1952
IND	India	1947	BI 1930-1947	Formerly British India
IR	Iran	1936	PR 1930-1936	Formerly Persia
IRQ	Iraq	1930
J	Japan	1964
K	Cambodia	1956
KG	Kyrgyzstan	2016	SU - 1991 KS 1991-2016	Formerly part of the USSR
KGZ *	Kyrgyzstan	1992	SU - 1991 KS 1991-2016	Formerly part of the USSR
KP *	North Korea
KSA	Saudi Arabia	1973	SA	K ingdom of S audi A rabia
KWT	Kuwait	1954
KZ	Kazakhstan	1992	SU - 1991	Formerly part of the USSR
LAO	Laos	1959
MAL	Malaysia	1972	PRK - 1957 FM 1954-1957 PTM 1957-1972	Formerly Perak, then Federated Malay States, then Federation of Malay
MGL	Mongolia	2002
MV *	Maldives
MYA	Myanmar	1989	BUR 1956-1989
NEP	Nepal	1970
OM	Oman
PK	Pakistan	1947
PS *	Palestine
Q	Qatar	1972
RC	Republic of China (Taiwan)	1932
RI	Indonesia	1955		R epublik I ndonesia
RL	Lebanon	1952
ROK	South Korea	1971
RP	Philippines	1973
SGP	Singapore	1952
SYR	Syria	1952
T	Thailand	1955
TJ	Tajikistan	1992	SU - 1991	Formerly part of the USSR
TL *	East Timor		P, RI	T imor- L este
TM	Turkmenistan	1992	SU - 1991, TMN	Formerly part of the USSR
UAE	United Arab Emirates	1971
UZ	Uzbekistan	1992	SU - 1991	Formerly part of the USSR
VN	Vietnam	1953
YEM	Yemen	1990	YAR 1960-1990

* - unofficial code

Africa car codes

American car codes

The code	Country	Valid with	Previous Code	Notes (edit)
ANG	Angola	1975	PAN 1932-1957 P 1957-1975
Bf	Burkina Faso	1990
BW	Botswana	2003	BP 1967-2003
CAM	Cameroon	1952
CGO	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1997	CB, RCL, CGO, ZR
CI	Cote d "Ivoire	1961
COM	Comoros
CV *	Cape Verde	1975	P
DJI *	Djibouti		F
DY	Benin	1910	F	Before 1975 Dahomey
DZ	Algeria	1962	F - 1911
EAK	Kenya	1938		E ast A frica K enya
EAT	Tanzania	1938		E ast A frica T anzania
EAU	Uganda	1938		E ast A frica U ganda
EAZ	Zanzibar	1964		E ast A frica Z anzibar
ER	Eritrea	1993	AOI	Africa Orientale Italiana (Italian)
ET	Egypt	1927
ETH	Ethiopia	1964	AOI - 1941	A frica O rientale I taliana
G	Gabon	1974	ALEF - 1960	Afrique Équatoriale Française
Gh	Ghana	1959	WAC - 1957	West Africa Gold Coast
GQ *	Equatorial Guinea			G uinée É q uatoriale
LAR	Libya	1972	I - 1949, LT	L ibyan A rab R epublic
LB	Liberia	1967
LS	Lesotho	1967	BL
MA	Morocco	1924
MOС	Mozambique	1975	MOC 1932-1956 P 1957-1975	Formerly part of Portugal
MS	Mauritius	1938
MW	Malawi	1965	EA 1932-1938 NP - 1938-1970 RNY option 1960-1965
NAM	Namibia	1990	SWA	Formerly Southwest Africa
RCA	Central African Republic	1962
RCB	Republic of the Congo	1962
RG	Guinea	1972
RIM	Mauritania	1964
RM	Madagascar	1962		République de M adagascar
RMM	Mali	1962	AOF - 1960	République du Mali.
RN	Niger	1975	AOF - 1960	République du N iger " Formerly part of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française).
RU	Burundi	1962		R uanda- U rundi
RWA	Rwanda	1964	RU - 1962	R uanda- U rundi
SD	Eswatini	1935		Previously Swaziland until 2018
SN	Senegal	1962
STP *	Sao Tome and Principe	1975	P	São T omé and P ríncipe
SUD	Sudan	1963
SY	Seychelles	1938
TCH	Chad	1973
TG	Togo	1962
TN	Tunisia	1957	F - 1956
WAG	Gambia	1932		W est A frica G ambia
WAL	Sierra leone	1937		W est A frica Sierra L eone
WAN	Nigeria	1937		W est A frica N igeria
WSA *	West Sahara	1932		W estern Sa hara
Z	Zambia	1964
ZA	South Africa	1936		Z uid- A frika
ZW	Zimbabwe	1980	SR - 1965 RSR - 1980	Formerly Southern Rhodesia, then Rhodesia

* - unofficial code

Australia and Oceania car codes

American car codes

The code	Country	Valid with	Previous Code	Notes (edit)
ARK *	Antarctica
AUS	Australia	1954
FJI	Fiji	1971
FSM *	Federated States of Micronesia			F ederated S tates of M icronesia
KIR *	Kiribati
MH *	Marshall Islands			M ars h all Islands
NAU	Nauru	1968
NC *	New Caledonia	1968		N ouvelle- C alédonie
NZ	New Zealand	1958
PAL *	Palau
PNG image	Papua New Guinea	1978
SOL *	Solomon islands
TO *	Tonga
TUV *	Tuvalu
VU *	Vanuatu
WS	Samoa	1962

* - unofficial code

Deprecated codes

American car codes

The code	Country	Acted before	Replaced by	Notes (edit)
ADN	Aden	1980	Y	1938-1967 South Yemen 1967-1980 People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
AEF	French Equatorial Africa	1960	G, TCH
AOF	French West Africa	1962	DY, RMM, RN
AOI	Italian East Africa	1964	ER, ETH
BA	Burma	1956	BUR
BP	Bechuanaland	1966	BW
CS	Czechoslovakia	1992	CZ, SK
DA	Free City of Danzig	1939	D (1939-1945) PL (1945 -...)	1919-1939
DDR	GDR	1990	D	1974-1990 German Democratic Republic
GBY	Malta	1966	M
EW	Estonia	1940	SU	1919-1940
LR	Latvia	1940	SU	1927-1940
PR	Persia	1936	IR	1930-1936
R	Russian empire	1917	SU	1910-1917
RSR	Southern Rhodesia	1917	SU	1910-1917
SA	Saar	1956	D	1926–1935, 1947–1956
SHS	Kingdom of Yugoslavia	1929	Y	1919–1929
SM	Siam	1939	T	1930–1939
SU	the USSR	1991	EST, LT, LV, BY, MD, UA, TJ, TM, GE, KZ, UZ, KS, AZ, AM, RUS	1917-1991
TS	Free Territory of Trieste	1954	I
Y	Yugoslavia	1953	YU	1929-1953
YU	Yugoslavia	2003	BIH, HR, MK, MNE, SLO, SRB	1953–2003
HV	Upper Volta	1984	Bf	now Burkina Faso
MK	Macedonia	2019	NMK	Now North Macedonia

* - unofficial code

The license plates for the regions of Ukraine are one of the biggest mysteries on our roads. Who and why encrypted the codes of our regions, we will never know, how not to understand the logic of this action. Fortunately, decoding the codes is no secret.

The current format of license plates for passenger cars was adopted in Ukraine in 2004, with a slight correction in 2015, when the field of colors of the Ukrainian flag in the left edge of the number was changed to blue with a small blue and yellow flag on it. The registration plate bears the four-digit vehicle number itself and two letter codes before and after it.

Only the first group of two letters has a relation to the region of registration of the car, the rest of the characters refer to the actual registration number

The first pair of letters just denotes the code of the region to which the vehicle is assigned. The second pair of letters that completes the inscription on the plate is a series of numbers, which allows you to expand the number of registrations in the future.

At the same time, only those letters of the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet are used that have analogues in the Latin alphabet - supposedly because the car could travel abroad without problems. There are only twelve such letters in the Ukrainian alphabet: A, B, E, I, K, M, H, O, P, C, T, X.

Ukrainian model numbers 1995 - 2004 determined the belonging to the region by the digital code. Assignment logic - alphabetical arrangement of scopes

For some reason, the current alphabetic indices of the regions of the 2004 model are not morphologically related to the names of the regions; to identify the place of registration of the car, the codes must be memorized or use the table below.

	CA	Kiev City
	KB	Vinnytsia region
	KC	Volyn region
	KE	Dnipropetrovsk region
	KH	Donetsk region
	KI	Kiev region
	KM	Zhytomyr Oblast
	CO	Transcarpathian region
	KP	Zaporozhye region
	CT	Ivano-Frankivsk region
		Kharkov region
		Kirovograd region
		Lugansk region
		Lviv region
		Nikolaevkskaya area
		Odessa region
		Poltava region
		Rovenskaya region
		Sumy region
		Ternopil region
		Kherson region
		Khmelnitsky region
		Cherkasy region
		Chernihiv region
		Chernivtsi region

The picture was even more confused by an attempt to "refresh" the indices at the end of 2013, when the first letters in the region codes were replaced: A was changed to K, B to H, C to I. But the previous codification also remained.

A series of numbers for "untouchable" owners were canceled over the years and reintroduced into use

Car numbers by regions in Ukraine, in addition to the above-described usual for "passenger" cars, there can be several more types - temporary, bus, diplomatic, police, military, volunteer and others. Many of them have their own codification, their own variations of performance and their own history, and perhaps we will talk about them next time.

In 2004, license plates were changed on all types of Ukrainian cars. Now the numbers will first indicate the region of Ukraine, then a series of numbers and at the end an alphabetic series. So, now license plates in Ukraine look like this:

Decoding of this type of numbers:

• The first two letters are the designation of the region of Ukraine;
• A series of 4 digits - directly a digital series;
• The last two letters are an alphabetic series.

On numbers until 2004, the region was indicated by numbers from 01 to 26, but now they are indicated by Latin numbers. In order to know and distinguish, you just need to remember them. It is worth noting the distinctive sign when the place letter designation area is indicated by the value "II". This means a nationwide number.

Below is a transcript of new and old license plates:

Regions of Ukraine	after 2004	until 2004
Crimea	AK	01	KR, KO, KT
Vinnytsia region	AB	02	ВI, ВТ, ВХ
Volyn region	AS	03	VO, VK, VM
Dnipropetrovsk region	AE	04	AA, AB, AE, AK, AN
Donetsk region	AN	05	ЕА, ЕВ, ЕК, ЕН, ЕО, EU
Zhytomyr Oblast	AM	06	VA, BB
Transcarpathian region	JSC	07	PE, RT
Zaporozhye region	AR	08	ON, NOT, NO, NR, NS
Ivano-Frankivsk region	AT	09	IB, IC
Kiev region	AI	10	KK, KX, KM
Kiev	AA	11	KA, KI, KV, KE, KN
Kirovograd region	VA	12	OM, OH, OS
Lugansk region	BB	13	AM, AO, AR, AT, AH
Lviv region	Sun	14	TA, TV, TN, TS
Nikolaevkskaya area	BE	15	HI, NK, NT
Odessa region	VN	16	OA, OV, OE, OK
Poltava region	BI	17	SK, SN, SS
Rovenskaya region	VC	18	RV, RA, RO
Sevastopol	CH	27	KS
Sumy region	VM	19	CA, SV, CE
Ternopil region	IN	20	TE, TI, TK
Kharkov region	OH	21	XA, XE, XI, XK
Kherson region	VT	22	XO, XN
Khmelnitsky region	BX	23	XM, XT
Cherkasy region	CA	24	MA, MV, ME
Chernihiv region	SV	25	MK, MM, MN
Chernivtsi region	CE	26	MO, MR, MS
Nationwide	II

For example, now the Luhansk region will be designated as "VV", and Odessa - "VN".

• For route transport

There are two types of license plate background - white and yellow. White numbers will be installed on all private civilian vehicles, and yellow, as in most countries, on urban route transport.

• Transit numbers

When receiving temporary license plates, a different type of signs will be issued for cars. First, the background will be red, and on the left in special place the date of issue will be indicated. According to these obvious differences, it will be possible to quickly figure out and understand whether it is expired or not.

Special numbers are also allocated for diplomatic missions, embassies and international organizations. Their series always begins with the letter "D". Then the country which owns the mission is indicated - from 001 to 199, or the intergovernmental organization - from 200 to 299, or the consulate - from 300 to 399. Then a series of the serial number of the vehicle, consisting of 3 digits.

• Special numbers

On government cars, as well as for state security, the Verkhovna Rada, etc. special numbers will be installed. The digital series will consist of two or three digits and will range from “00” and “000” to “999”. Thus, it will be a limited edition of up to 1000 pieces.

Everything possible types license plates with decoding are presented below.

For vehicles of the armed forces, a black background is adopted, as in many states.