The leader of Norfolk County Council has visited Ukraine to show the county's support for people in the war-torn country.
David Bick was invited to visit the city of Lviv as part of a 'memorandum of understanding' agreed between Norfolk County Council and the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
The council signed that agreement in 2024 in a show of solidarity after Russian troops invaded the country.
Mr Bick's visit on Monday (September 14) saw the Reform leader at County Hall attend a minute's silence which takes place in Lviv, Ukraine's fifth-biggest city, every day to honour those who have fallen defending their country from the invaders.
Mr Bick said: "Everything and everyone comes to a silent stop. It was a very poignant moment."
He then laid flowers at the grave of a barely 26-year-old medic who had given her life for her country.
He said: The grave of this brave soldier was just one of over 1,200 military graves in the cemetery.
"Despite her young years she had made a last will and testament, anticipating the possibility of losing her life.
"The image of the flag-bedecked and superbly well-kept graves will never leave me."
Mr Bick said the visit restated Norfolk's support for the people of the Lviv region and for all the people of Ukraine fighting to defend their independence.
A meeting to discuss the relationship between Lviv and Norfolk discussed the creation of a joint economic forum, the development of exchanges in manufacturing, energy production, agritech, culture and tourism and further expansion of the existing memorandum of understanding.
Mr Bick's Reform administration prompted controversy when, in one of its first acts after taking control of the authority in May's elections, it changed the flag policy on the county council's buildings.
That meant flags such as the Ukraine flag - which was raised in support of the nation after it was invaded by Russian troops in February 2022 - are no longer flown from council-owned buildings such as County Hall.
Mr Bick has always stressed the removal of the Ukraine flag was not meant to indicate a reduction in support for the country.
His visit to the country came a day after former prime minister Boris Johnson was caught in a security scare when a Russian drone in Ukraine hit a train behind the one he had been travelling in.
Mr Johnson had been returning from a major conference in Kyiv along with former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and a number of European security advisers.
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