G7 leaders will agree on a new $50-billion loan for Ukraine as they gather Thursday for a summit at a plush resort in southern Italy. The funds will come from profits stripped off frozen Russian assets.
AFP reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will fly in to join U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from Italy, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan for the talks at the luxury Borgo Egnazia resort in Puglia.
The money is destined to to help Kyiv with defence, budgetary support, and reconstruction after more than two years of war with Russia.
The loan would be secured against the future profits from interest on $325 billion of Russian central bank assets frozen by Western allies, the AFP report notes, and be added to the other funding flooding the besieged country from abroad.
“Good news from the G7: another $50 billion for Ukraine,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wrote on X.
“We are using interest from frozen assets for this — a smart instrument that shows (Russian President Vladimir) Putin our unity, greatly helps Ukraine and relieves the burden on budgets.
“Now we are working on the details.”
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on Wednesday flagged a G7 deal on providing the money by the end of this calendar year.
“We are on the verge of a good outcome here,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan promised Thursday, adding the details still needed to be thrashed out.
Zelensky said he was expecting “important decisions” at the G7 summit ahead of his second meeting in a week with U.S. President Joe Biden, as Breitbart News reported.