In the past six months, President Zelenskyy has been busy upholding his country through a war he didn’t provoke.
Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have conducted a surprisingly successful counteroffensive operation, recovering around 20 towns in the Kherson area, in the north-east of the country, and fighting fiercely to recover territory in the South.
However, news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II has not passed Ukraine by, and the President had already expressed his condolences via Twitter on the same day of her passing.
Now, he has made a surprise stop at the British Embassy in Kyiv to sign the book of condolences that all British Embassies around the world have opened.
Dressed in a field military uniform, the President was seen copying a short message from a typed piece of paper next to him. He also brought a small bouquet of white flowers, which he laid on the table next to Her Late Majesty’s picture.
The British Ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmonds, tweeted a picture of the moment saying: “Deeply honoured that President Zelenskyy signed our condolence book for Queen Elizabeth II this morning. Grateful to the President for taking the time to do this given all else that is happening in Ukraine at this time”.
The Embassy’s Twitter feed posted the same picture from another angle and wrote “Deeply grateful to President Zelenskyy for signing the Book of Condolence for Her Majesty The Queen on behalf of the Ukrainian people”.
Throughout the past 6 and a half months, the United Kingdom has been one of the biggest supplier of modern weapons to the invaded country, together with the United States and the European Union.
Those weapons are part of the reason why this counteroffensive is being so successful, together with strategic decisions that have been taken by Ukrainian military officials.
Shortly after the invasion, Queen Elizabeth II was seen showing her support for Ukraine in her usual, discreet way; several times, she dressed in blue and yellow, or had blue and yellow flowers in the background of pictures, a clear sign of solidarity with the invaded country. A solidarity that seems to be mutual, now that the UK is mourning their beloved Queen.
