THE G7 ‘IS NOT GOING AWAY’

UKRAINE will receive western support for “years to come”, Rishi Sunak said as he warned Vladimir Putin that his strategy of waiting it out is “not going to work”.

The Prime Minister said it was one of the Russian president’s “great miscalculations” to assume his invasion of Ukraine would fragment allies.

Speaking during a Q&A session at the London Defence Conference, Mr Sunak also said there was “consistency” across the G7 in the approach to Beijing. China’s rise represented an “epoch-defining challenge” to the West, he said, but argued the response must not be one of protectionism, with a need to engage with Beijing on a range of issues.

While a “particularly robust approach” should be taken in “a limited number of very sensitive sectors” such as semiconductors and quantum, “this is not an excuse for a blanket descent into protectionism”, he said.

On Ukraine, Mr Sunak said it was clear the G7 was “united” on continuing to support the war-torn nation against Russian aggression.

He said his message to Mr Putin was: “It’s simple. We’re not going away.”

The UK was leading conversations with allies about longer-term security agreements for Ukraine, Mr Sunak said.

“Making clear to Russia that that support will be coming to Ukraine for years to come” would give Moscow the message that its “waiting it out strategy is not going to work”, he added.

Ukraine had “every chance of success” in its spring counter-offensive with the help of resources and capabilities supplied by the UK and allies, according to the Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak was at the G7 summit over the weekend, where Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed leaders and US President Joe Biden gave approval for allies to hand over their F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv.