Washington, 10 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The change of government will make "no difference" to Britain's support for Ukraine's defence against the Russian invasion, newly appointed Prime Minister Keir Starmer reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Wednesday.

"I just had a very good meeting with President Zelensky, where I made it absolutely clear that as far as the UK is concerned, the change of government makes no difference to the support that we will provide," Starmer told reporters.

King Charles III appointed Starmer as prime minister on Friday, following a landslide election victory on Thursday by Starmer's centre-left Labour Party, which had been in opposition for 14 years.

Despite their domestic disagreements, Labour and the ousted Conservative Party have been closely aligned on the provision of military support to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"We've been united on this when we were in opposition, and it was really important to me to be able to affirm that face-to-face in the meeting; I didn't speak to him immediately after I was sworn in as prime minister last week," Starmer said.

He added that the Washington summit was an opportunity for his new Labour government to reaffirm its commitment to NATO.

Photo: dpa