200 Karbovantsiv

Ukraine's first post-Soviet banknote series was produced under considerable urgency. The Canadian Bank Note Company in Ottawa handled the printing contract — a pragmatic choice, given that Ukraine had no domestic security printing facility capable of meeting the immediate demand following independence in 1991. The karbovanets itself was a transitional currency, never intended as permanent; it replaced Soviet rubles at par before the hryvnia eventually superseded it in 1996.

Hyperinflation rendered the 200 karbovantsiv denomination almost trivial within months of issue. By the mid-1990s, notes in the millions were circulating.