THE UKRAINIAN flag will fly high above Newton Abbot next month in support of the country’s fight against the latest Russian invasion.

The blue and yellow standard was due to be hoisted at St Leonard’s Tower on Wednesday, the date coinciding with Ukraine Independence Day.

The country has been autonomous since 1991following a failed bid by hardline communists in the then Soviet Union to restore control.

The blue and yellow flag was first adopted in 1848 but during the Soviet period was replaced with another bearing the hammer and sickle in a red band above a blue base.

The original flag’s re-adoption in 1992 cemented Ukraine’s position as an independent country, a status now threatened by the war with Russia which, in its current form, began in February of this year.

However, the conflict started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and backed armed separatists in the east of Ukraine who took partial control of the Donbas region.

Last Wednesday, Newton Abbot Town Council voted unanimously in favour of flying the Ukrainian flag to mark the country’s independence day.

Mayor Cllr Carol Bunday said: ‘Like so many people in our town and country, we are deeply saddened by the conflict and very concerned about the impact it is having across the world.

‘Individuals in our community are doing what they can to assist refugees and victims, despite having to cope with their own cost of living crises and the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

‘If we, as a Town Council, can at least make this gesture of support to Ukraine and all those trying to make a terrible situation better, then it’s something we are delighted to do.

‘I hope residents and businesses will join us, let’s paint the town blue and yellow, let’s tell the people of Ukraine and their supporters that they are in our thoughts and prayers.

‘And let us hope too that the Kremlin has a change of heart and pulls back from this war, the full consequences of which none of us, including the ordinary people of Russia, can yet begin to quantify.’