Bucharest 9 Declares It Will Support Ukraine For "As Long As It Takes"

Leaders of the Bucharest 9 - Eastern flank NATO members - have followed US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in declaring that the bloc will support Ukraine for "as long as it takes."

• Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said at an extraordinary B9 meeting in Warsaw: "NATO is standing strong, the Bucharest Nine is stronger than ever."
• Slovakia President Zuzana Čaputová said "Biden's presence is proof that transatlantic unity is strong."
• The unified show of support from the B9 is highly symbolic considering the group is constructed of NATO members which were formally part of the Warsaw Pact, or the Soviet Union itself, in the case of the Baltic states.
• Biden told the B9 leaders: "You are the frontlines of our collective defence," and confirmed that "Article 5 is a sacred commitment the United States has made."
• Stoltenberg referenced previous failings of the alliance to prevent Russian aggression in Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014): "We must break the cycle of Russian aggression."
• Biden announced yesterday that the US will host a NATO summit in the US next year to mark the 75 year-anniversary of the alliance.