Glasgow’s iconic Duke of Wellington statue has been given a new traffic cone decorated with the colours of the Ukrainian flag to show support for the country which is at the centre of a devastating war.

A video posted on social media on Sunday night showed Glasgow man Garry McWhirter climbing a ladder outside the Gallery of Modern Art in the centre of Glasgow on Sunday night to swap the famous orange traffic cone hat to one painted blue and yellow like the Ukrainian flag, with bright sunflowers coming out of the top. 

Mr McWhirter's wife, Pauline, decided to use her crocheting skills to create a cover for the cone in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, with sunflowers emerging from the top.

Mrs McWhirter, 55, from Glasgow, has previously crocheted decorations for post boxes and turned her hand to a traffic cone after her daughter suggested it.

Throughout Ukraine's history, the flower has been used as a symbol of peace.

The video, which was posted on Twitter and has drawn more than 29,000 likes, shows Mr McWhirter climbing a ladder to change the cone as a crowd of people watching in Royal Exchange Square cheer.

Mrs McWhirter said: “Probably like all Glaswegians everybody is feeling a wee bit helpless in what can we do and how do we do it.

“For me the only thing that I had was a wee bit of power in crocheting in making a stand so I crocheted the hat and my husband put it up and it’s basically giving out a message saying we stand with Ukraine.

“I just did it in one day. It’s just awful seeing what is happening in Ukraine and everybody feels so helpless. People make Glasgow, that is just the truest saying anybody ever came up with.

“That cone is a very, very, very small gesture and it’s just something that as a family we came up with. It was my daughter Emma’s idea and my husband put it up, I only did the crochet work. As he was putting it up people passing by started cheering and clapping which was really nice.

“If we can send a message to one Ukrainian person residing in Glasgow then job done.”

It is not the first time the statue’s usual orange and white traffic cone hat has been replaced with themed headgear in a nod to current events.

On Brexit day in January 2020 the cone was decorated with an EU flag, while it was previously decorated with a rainbow flag during a Pride festival in the city.

Plans in 2013 to raise the statue to stop cones being placed on its head were withdrawn after a public outcry.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in its twelfth day and it has been reported that 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled to neighbouring countries.

The Herald:

The United Nations says there have been more than 1,000 civilian casualties since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.

Of the 1,058 reported civilian casualties The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said 351 had been killed, including 10 children, however it believes that the real figure is considerably higher.

According to the Reuters news agency, Ukraine has reported that more than 11,000 Russian troops have been killed since the invasion began on February 24.

The UK's Ministry of Defence said on Thursday: "The Russian defence ministry has been forced to admit that 498 Russian soldiers have already been killed and 1,597 wounded.

"The actual number of those killed and wounded will almost certainly be considerably higher and will continue to rise."

On Monday, Russia announced a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors in several areas of Ukraine despite its armed forces continuing to attack cities.

The limited ceasefire announcement came a day after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety were forced to shelter from Russian shelling of cities in the centre, north and south of the country.

Officials from both sides planned a third round of talks on Monday.

Russian forces have opened fire on the city of Mykolaiv, 480 kilometres south of the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday morning. Rescuers said they were putting out fires in residential areas caused by rocket attacks.

Shelling also continued in the suburbs of Kyiv, including Irpin, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heating for three days.