Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations have reached an agreement to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in aid by utilizing frozen Russian assets by the end of this year, announced the French presidency on Wednesday.
Ahead of the G7 summit in Italy, scheduled to begin on Thursday, a senior official confirmed the consensus among member states to support Ukraine amidst its ongoing conflict with Russia.
The aid package will leverage the profits from the interest on approximately 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of frozen assets belonging to the Russian central bank. These profits will serve as collateral for a loan aimed at providing substantial financial support to Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the summit to discuss the implementation of this initiative.
The French presidency official clarified that while the loan is intended to be repaid using proceeds from the frozen Russian assets, contingency plans are in place in case these assets are unfrozen or prove insufficient to cover the loan amount. Discussions on equitable burden-sharing among G7 nations will ensue if such a scenario arises.
The upcoming G7 summit in Italy is anticipated to focus extensively on bolstering international support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s ongoing invasion, underscoring unified efforts to address one of Europe’s gravest security crises in recent history.
