Zelenskyy hopes Reform UK councils will allow Ukraine flags to be flown again

Exclusive: Ukrainian president says ‘small mistake can break a big friendship’ in wide-ranging interview with Guardian

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”, as he underlined the significance of strong bilateral relations.

The Ukrainian president tempered his rare foray into UK domestic politics by stressing how much the two countries “need each other” in the battle against Russia, which he said posed a threat not only to Ukraine but to Britain too.

In an interview with the Guardian after talks with Keir Starmer , Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in London to discuss the next steps in the conflict, he said Ukraine’s military position was the strongest it had been for more than two years. “Russia is not winning,” he declared.

Zelenskyy revealed that he planned to invite the king, whom he met later on Monday at Buckingham Palace, for a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, after Charles’s public show of support over personal attacks by the US president, Donald Trump, at the White House last year.

The Ukrainian president also disclosed he had pressed Starmer over funds from Roman Abramovich’s £2.4bn sale of Chelsea FC, which the government has earmarked for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine, and that he wanted the UK to be aligned with the rest of Europe on sanctions.

During his visit to London, Zelenskyy attempted to reassure Britons that continuing to support Ukraine was in their national interest – after successive UK governments spent more than £20bn on military, humanitarian and economic assistance since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

“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,” he said.