Welcoming Ukrainian refugees to our communities

DC Thomson’s news brands will this week give away thousands of posters depicting the Ukrainian flag, as a symbol of solidarity with refugees fleeing war.

Around 160,000 flag posters have been printed, showing the Ukrainian flag and a dove of peace. The posters are being inserted into The Courier, The Press and Journal, Evening Telegraph and Evening Express on Friday March 25, and The Sunday Post on Sunday March 27.

The idea for the posters came from the newspaper production team at DC Thomson’s Kingsway site in Dundee. It is hoped that readers will put them in their windows as a symbol to welcome refugees to their towns and cities.

This is the first time in recent memory that DC Thomson has produced a large-scale poster like this for a cause.

Posters are double sided and fold out to be slightly larger than A2. The main flag side shows the Ukrainian flag with a peace dove and the words ‘peace not war’. When folded up, the poster is designed to be placed in smaller windows and shows the peace dove, with the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

Guy Forester, head of operations for newspaper production, leads the team who came up with the project. He said: “The war in the Ukraine is at the forefront of everyone’s minds just now. You give what you can to charity but we wanted to do something to welcome people to Scotland. To come to a new city, escaping the horrors of war must be terrifying. We thought if you arrive in a city and see hundreds of Ukrainian flags in the windows of people’s homes, cars and businesses that it might move you and show that people care.”