In addition to being Estonian Independence Day, Saturday marks two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, while an assault on Kyiv failed, territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson oblasts, as well as the Crimea, remain under Russian occupation.

Lasnamäe and Kristiine districts have pledge to fly the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow on municipal flagpoles following ERR's question to that end.

Nõmme district mayor Karmo Kuri (SDE) told ERR on Thursday that: "We put up the Ukrainian flag when Russia's aggression intensified on February 24, the reason being that for a very long time we had an aid point in the same building dedicated to Ukrainian war refugees who had arrived in Estonia. When they first started arriving, one of the main accommodation locations was the Dzingeli hotel in Nõmme,"

Gert Uiboaed, an adviser at the government office, told ERR that there is no legal requirement to fly the Ukrainian flag on public or other buildings in Estonia, and that this is left to the discretion of each institution, firm or private resident.

One regulation which remains in place is that the national flag of Estonia must always be flown alongside the flag of any other nation which may be on display, including in the case of the Ukrainian flag.

It must also be clear what is being conveyed in flying national flags; if this is being done as a statement of solidarity, then it will remain the case for as long as that solidarity remains the case.

Naturally in Ukraine's case it remains relevant, so having already flown that country's flag it would be inappropriate to cease doing so for as long as the current situation, ie. the Russian occupation, remains, Uiboaed added.

Karmo Kuri noted that while the hotel was no longer being used to host refugees, now was not an appropriate time to take it down.

However, the remaining seven Tallinn district governments had not raised the Ukrainian flag until this week, though with three flagpoles in front of their buildings (or five in the case of the Lasnamäe district office, one of which has remained vacant for months now), there is the scope to do so.

Kristiine district mayor Jaanus Riibe and Lasnamäe district mayor Julianna Jurtšenko (both from the Center Party) pledged to change that in time for Saturday, February 24, however.

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