Newsman: Western leaders have agreed to loan Ukraine up to $50 billion to fight Russia and rebuild after the lengthy war .Billions from Russia’s frozen assets will go to help Ukraine’s military, the EU says.G7 leaders are still working out the details of exactly how and when to distribute the money. The money will be repaid over time from the interest accumulating on frozen Russian financial assets, as said.
Western governments froze about $300 billion in Russian assets — including money, securities, gold and bonds — held mainly in banks in Europe, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Leaders of the G7 economies have agreed to use the interest generated by the assets — about $3 billion per year — to help Ukraine.
The negotiations have been at the top of the agenda for the G7 leaders’ summit in Puglia, Italy. The United States and European countries have different proposals for distributing the money.And some of the details are still being worked out.
The European proposal had been for about $3 billion a year to go to Ukraine, and only interest from a certain part of the frozen Russian assets — $190 billion held by a company called Euroclear in Belgium — to be shared.
The U.S., on the other hand wanted to give $60 billion to Ukraine up front, because Ukraine’s need on the battlefield. Officials had said the interest generated from the frozen Russian assets would go toward paying back that money.
The agreement will likely be some sort of compromise between the European and U.S. proposals.
The US and Ukraine are expected to sign a bilateral security pact on the sidelines of the G7 in Italy.multiple media reported that a deal that lays out a path for the US’ long-term security relationship with Kyiv .
The agreement follows months of negotiations between the US and Ukraine and is expected to commit the US for 10 years to continued training of Ukraine’s armed forces, more cooperation in the production of weapons and military equipment, the continued provision of military assistance and greater intelligence sharing.
NATO defense ministers are expected to finalize an agreement Friday that will give the alliance greater control over security assistance and training for Ukraine’s military.
Besides,President Joe Biden also touted a $60 billion investment by the United States in global infrastructure during a roundtable event at the G7 in Italy on Thursday.
Appearing alongside the other G7 leaders during a roundtable event, Biden spoke mostly off notecards. The president thanked his Italian host, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in particular.
“All told, I’m proud to announce the United States has mobilized more than $60 billion in investments around the world thus far, that’s double where we were last year,” Biden said.
