Get you up to speed: Zelensky slams Reform UK for pulling down Ukraine flags from town halls | News UK
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and President of France Emmanuel Macron at 10 Downing Street in London. Zelenskyy warned that “small mistakes can break big friendships” following Reform UK’s removal of Ukrainian flags from town halls under their national policy prioritising English symbols.
Reform UK has implemented a policy to prioritise English symbols at council buildings, leading to the removal of Ukrainian flags, although it is unclear when these flags may be reinstated. The meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, underscored the ongoing international discussions regarding support for Ukraine amid heightened tensions with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned Reform UK that “small mistakes can break big friendships” after the party removed Ukrainian flags from town halls as part of a national policy shift. Following a meeting with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and leaders from France and Germany, Zelenskyy expressed hope for a reconsideration of the decision, stating, “I hope they will put it back.”
What remains unclear — It is not specified when President Zelensky’s meeting with Roman Abramovich took place.
Zelensky criticises Reform UK for removing Ukrainian flags from town halls
Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Reform UK that ‘small mistakes can break big friendships’ after they decided to take down Ukrainian flags from outside town halls they control.
Reform has hauled down the Ukrainian flag from town halls under their national policy to prioritise English symbols outside council buildings.
Last year the blue and yellow colours were removed and replaced with a frayed red and white banner showing Warwickshire’s bear and ragged staff.
The move followed a row between the party and the county council’s chief executive over the Progress Pride flag, which it also wanted removed.
But Ukraine’s president expressed his hope that they would change their course in an interview with the Guardian newspaper which took place in London after he met with Sir Keir Starmer, and the political leaders of France and Germany, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. ‘I hope they will put it back’, Mr Zelensky told the newspaper.
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He added: ‘I don’t want to be involved in any political things, but you know, the world is so sensitive today. Sometimes little, small mistakes can break big friendship or huge contacts.’
The Ukrainian leader then suggested that ‘people have to not make mistakes’, before adding: ‘OK, so you did it, please let’s come back to the table, let’s speak, let’s understand each other.’
Elsewhere in the Guardian interview, Mr Zelensky stressed how much his country and Britain need one another in Europe’s standoff against Russia.
‘British people helped us from the very beginning of this war, it’s true. It’s because of security, not only values… But it’s about security in Europe. It’s in the interests of the UK.’
Mr Zelensky also revealed that he plans to invite the King for a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, after Charles’s show of support for him after US President Donald Trump’s blistering row with the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office a year ago.
The King and Mr Zelensky met for a private audience on Monday. In an interview with Sky News, Mr Zelensky earlier revealed that Roman Abramovich has acted as a go-between for Kyiv and Moscow on plans for peace talks.
He told the broadcaster the former owner of Premier League football club Chelsea had met him in Kyiv with a message from Russia and offered to bring a reply directly to Vladimir Putin.
Mr Zelensky said Mr Abramovich ‘wanted to give me the message that they (Russia) are ready to, that they want to understand what we are ready to do’, and had offered to take a reply ‘and give it to Putin’. He added: ‘I said the question is not about us. You are fighting against us on our territory. ‘And I said to him about Donbas, it was the key message, I said we will not leave and we will not go out from our territory. No, we will not give you a victory (in) such (a) way, and you will not get it.’
Mr Zelensky said he told Mr Abramovich to tell the Russian president he was willing to meet ‘any time from tomorrow’ in any location other than Russia or Belarus, and either bilaterally or with Mr Trump and European leaders.
He did not say when the meeting took place, but the Financial Times reported the pair had met in late May this year. Mr Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 over his connections to Mr Putin.
He has previously been involved in negotiations with Moscow and reportedly played a role in arranging a prisoner swap in 2022 that secured the release of five British men captured while fighting for Ukraine.
In a joint statement on Sunday night, Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Merz called on the Russian president to agree ‘an immediate and complete ceasefire’ and condemned Russia’s ‘large-scale missile and drone attacks’ on Ukrainian cities.
On the same day, a Russian drone strike killed three people waiting at a bus stop in south-eastern Ukraine, while a separate attack damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chernobyl power plant. Officials said radiation remains within safe levels.