US President Joe Biden has publicly apologised to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky over a months-long holdup in American military assistance that allowed Russia to make gains on the battlefield.

Speaking in Paris, where they both attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Mr Biden told Mr Zelensky that he apologised to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while congress waited six months before sending the US leader a 61 billion dollar (£47.6 billion) military aid package for Ukraine.

Mr Biden insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long-haul.

He said: “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly.”