Sunak, Biden agree to support Ukraine in first call

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, spoke for the first on the phone on Tuesday after the latter’s emergence as the Tory leader.

According to Al Jazeera, it was revealed that the leaders in their talks agreed to work together to support Ukraine and stand up to China.

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They spoke for the first time a few hours after Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister this year, inheriting an economic crisis after the resignation of Liz Truss who had only ruled for six weeks in office.

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Only in recent days has Biden appeared to publicly criticise Truss’s doomed economic strategy, in a rare intervention by the US President.

Relations between the two countries have also been somewhat strained in recent years amid ongoing tensions over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland. The White House holds concerns over the impact on peace in the region.

Biden and Sunak reaffirmed the “special relationship” between the US and Britain, and said they would work together to advance global security and prosperity, the White House said in a summary of the conversation.

“The leaders agreed on the importance of working together to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for its aggression,” the statement said of the war triggered by the Russian invasion.

Sunak has promised the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, that Britain’s support for Ukraine will be steadfast and “as strong as ever under his premiership”, a Downing Street spokesperson has said.

“The prime minister said … President Zelenskiy could count on his government to stand in continued solidarity. Both leaders agreed on the need to continue to place pressure on Putin’s barbaric regime through continued economic sanctions.”

For his part, Zelenskiy said he believed “British leadership in defending democracy and freedom” would only get stronger.

“Ukraine and Britain have reached new heights in relations lately but nevertheless we still have potential to strengthen our cooperation,” he said in an evening video address, adding that he had invited Sunak to visit Ukraine.

The White House said Biden and Sunak also agreed to “address the challenges posed by China”, which Washington has identified as its top geopolitical and economic rival on the world stage.