Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden stressed their “unwavering support” for Ukraine, with the president saying the US will help Kyiv for “as long as it takes”.

The two leaders emphasised the need for long-term security arrangements for the war-torn nation as deterrence against aggression from Russian president Vladimir Putin.

At a joint press conference at the White House, Biden was asked about hesitation about more funding for Ukraine among some lawmakers in the rival Republican Party.

“I believe we’ll have the funding necessary to support Ukraine as long as it takes. And I believe that that support will be real, even though you hear some voices today on Capitol Hill about whether or not we should continue to support Ukraine and for how long we should support them. Moscow would not halt its invasion if the west was not supporting Kyiv.

President Putin will be thinking that he can wait us out that the alliance will tire, will get fatigued and will give up. Now, that is not the case. And the more we can put in place support for Ukraine, not just in the here and now, but support that will last for a time and for years to come, I think it sends a strong signal to him that there is no point in trying to wait us out, we’re not going anywhere. We will be here for as long as it takes”, - said Biden