Liz Truss supports Brits going to Ukraine to fight as she warns conflict could last 'years'

Watch: Liz Truss says she 'absolutely' supports British citizens going to fight in Ukraine

Foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she supports Britons going to Ukraine to fight amid the Russian invasion.

It follows president Volodymyr Zelensky's call for foreigners to help his forces: “Every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country please come over, we will give you weapons.”

Asked on BBC's Sunday Morning if she supports this, Truss said: "I do support that. Of course, that is something people can make their own decisions about.

"The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe, because that is what president Putin is challenging.

"And absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in doing that."

Asked to clarify if she supports people from Britain going to Ukraine to fight, she confirmed: "Absolutely, if that's what they want to do."

Addressing the subject in a separate interview on Times Radio, Truss added Britons wanting to fight for Ukraine would be joining a "just cause".

It comes after Truss also told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme that the Ukraine crisis could last a "number of years".

"I fear this will be long haul, the UK absolutely stands by Ukraine through this very long and difficult conflict.

"This could be a number of years."

Truss told the same programme that the UK government is drawing up a "hit list" of Russian oligarchs associated with Putin to be targeted with sanctions.

"We will go through the hit list. We will be targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we will be targeting their properties, we will be targeting other possessions that they have and there will be nowhere to hide."

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It comes as an expected Russian assault on the capital city, Kyiv, failed to materialise.

However, on Sunday morning a Ukrainian official said Russian forces were fighting in the streets of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, hours after a nearby gas pipeline was blown up.

The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection warned that the explosion, which it said looked like a mushroom cloud, could cause an “environmental catastrophe” and advised residents to cover their windows with damp cloth or gauze and to drink plenty of fluids.