![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_300582087-e0df.jpg\")
\n\t\tPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy leaves 10 Downing Street after a meeting with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President of France Emmanuel Macron (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy leaves 10 Downing Street after a meeting with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President of France Emmanuel Macron (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> has warned Reform UK that \u2018small mistakes can break big friendships\u2019 after they decided to take down Ukrainian flags from outside town halls they control.<\/p>\n Reform<\/a> has hauled down the Ukrainian flag from town halls under their national policy to prioritise English symbols outside council buildings.<\/p>\n Last year the blue and yellow colours were removed and replaced with a frayed red and white banner showing Warwickshire\u2019s<\/a> bear and ragged staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n The move followed a row between the party and the county council\u2019s chief executive <\/a>over the Progress Pride flag, which it also wanted removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s president expressed his hope that they would change their course in an interview with the Guardian newspaper which took place in London<\/a> after he met with Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>, and the political leaders of France<\/a> and Germany<\/a>, Emmanuel Macron<\/a> and Friedrich Merz. \u2018I hope they will put it back\u2019, Mr Zelensky told the newspaper.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n \t\t He added: \u2018I don\u2019t 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.\u2019 <\/p>\n The Ukrainian leader then suggested that \u2018people have to not make mistakes\u2019, before adding: \u2018OK, so you did it, please let\u2019s come back to the table, let\u2019s speak, let\u2019s understand each other.\u2019<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the Guardian interview, Mr Zelensky stressed how much his country and Britain need one another in Europe\u2019s standoff against Russia. <\/p>\n \u2018British people helped us from the very beginning of this war, it\u2019s true. It\u2019s because of security, not only values\u2026 But it\u2019s about security in Europe. It\u2019s in the interests of the UK.\u2019<\/p>\n Mr Zelensky also revealed that he plans to invite the King for a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, after Charles\u2019s show of support for him after US President Donald Trump\u2019s blistering row with the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office a year ago. <\/p>\n \t\t 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. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n Mr Zelensky said Mr Abramovich \u2018wanted to give me the message that they (Russia) are ready to, that they want to understand what we are ready to do\u2019, and had offered to take a reply \u2018and give it to Putin\u2019. He added: \u2018I said the question is not about us. You are fighting against us on our territory. \u2018And 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.\u2019<\/p>\n Mr Zelensky said he told Mr Abramovich to tell the Russian president he was willing to meet \u2018any time from tomorrow\u2019 in any location other than Russia or Belarus, and either bilaterally or with Mr Trump and European leaders. <\/p>\n 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\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 over his connections to Mr Putin. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n In a joint statement on Sunday night, Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Merz called on the Russian president to agree \u2018an immediate and complete ceasefire\u2019 and condemned Russia\u2019s \u2018large-scale missile and drone attacks\u2019 on Ukrainian cities. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Caption:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEC_268324676-e24d.jpg\")
\n\t\tCllr George Finch has succeeded in getting the Pride and Ukraine flags taken down from outside Warwickshire County Council\u2019s HQ as part of Reform\u2019s national policy (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_300649899-91c0.jpg\")
\n\t\tZelensky and King Charles met behind closed doors on Monday (Picture: AFP)<\/p>\n
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