Coins from Ukraine (Україна). The hryvnia, hryvna has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is subdivided into 100 kopiyok (100 Kopiyok = 1 Hryvnia). It is named after a measure of weight used in medieval Kievan Rus (grivna). The modern Ukrainian hryvnia is sometimes transliterated as hryvna, hrivna, gryvna or grivna, due to its Russian language counterpart, гри́вна, pronounced grívna. However, the standard English name for the currency is hryvnia. Main symbols found on the coins: Ukrainian Trident, Volodymyr the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and Ivan Mazepa.