Three British prime ministers in fairly quick succession have said over the past two years that the UK will support Ukraine against Putin and his hordes ‘for as long as it takes’.

Noble sentiments, echoed by the man probably destined to be our next PM.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron has also deployed the phrase, saying that the UK and France will support Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’. A similar open-ended commitment has been expressed by President Joe Biden whose possible replacement in a year’s time might change the tune.

This undertaking, seemingly with few strings attached, has been made to Ukraine but when will the ‘it’ in that well-meaning phrase arrive? How long will ‘it’ be?

Eclipsed in the news agenda by the horrors of the Gaza/Israel situation, the war in Ukraine nevertheless carries on regardless. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost, a country devastated, an ecology blighted.

Let’s hope and pray that Ukraine can look forward to peace, freedom, justice, reparation and a bright future in the not-too-distant future.

Derek Reed, Middlethorpe Drive, York