BY Claire Mom
Leaders of G7 nations have agreed on a $50 billion loan package for Ukraine through profits on frozen Russian assets.
Giorgia Meloni, Italian prime minister, who is hosting the group’s summit this year, announced the resolution on Thursday.
“I confirm to you that we have reached political agreement to provide additional financial support to Ukraine of approximately $50bn by the end of the year,” Meloni said.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US and its allies immediately froze whatever Russian central bank assets they had access to which were worth some $325 billion.
US President Joe Biden said the G7 agreement would “put that money to work for Ukraine and send another reminder to Putin that we’re not backing down”.
“Putin cannot wait us out, he cannot divide us, and we will be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war,” Biden added.
Also at the summit, Biden signed a 10-year bilateral security deal with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian president.
The agreement envisages US military and training aid to Ukraine but it does not commit Washington to send troops to the country.
According to a statement from the White House, the security deal means Washington and Kyiv will work to build and maintain Ukraine’s defence systems and support economic and energy recovery.
“The United States intends to provide long-term materiel, training and advising, sustainment, intelligence, security, defense industrial, institutional, and other support to develop Ukrainian security and defense forces that are capable of defending a sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine and deterring future aggression,” the statement said.
Hours before the G7 decision was announced, Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, warned that there would be “extremely painful” retaliatory measures.
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