2 Hryvni Mykhailo Hrushevskyi

Hrushevsky's appearance on this denomination is quietly political. A historian and head of the Ukrainian Central Rada in 1917–1918, he presided over the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic before Soviet forces ended it. The USSR spent decades suppressing his reputation — his works were banned, and he died under suspicious circumstances in 1934 after years of NKVD harassment. Rehabilitated posthumously, his placement on circulating currency after independence carries weight that has nothing to do with the coin's face value.