The flag has two horizontal bands of yellow, of equal width, separated by a central blue band which splits into a horizontal "Y" shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and roughly follow the flag's diagonals).
The Y embraces a crimson isosceles triangle containing the golden monogram of Elizabeth, empress of Russia within.
The flag of Kropyvnytskyi utilizes the symbols found on the city's historical coats of arms and its current one, particularly the colours (with a switch from red to crimson) and the monogram of Elizabeth, empress of Russia.
The blue cross is said to symbolize the junction of three rivers: Inhul, Suhokliya and Bianka in whose vicinity the precursor of the city, Fort of St. Elizabeth was founded.
The flag was designed by Vitaliy Kryvenko in the 1st half of the 1990s and adopted by the City Hall on February 28, 1996.