Ahead Of Summit, G7 Leaders Agree On Ukraine Funding Plan Backed By Frozen Russian Assets
According to RFE/RL, the Group of Seven (G7) leaders have agreed on a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral, as Britain and Canada also separately announced new financial and military support for Kyiv.
Diplomats confirmed to the Associated Press that an agreement had been reached on the deal before the leaders even landed in southern Italy on June 13 for a highly anticipated three-day summit.
Separately, G7 member Canada announced on June 13 that it was sending its first delivery of new armored vehicles to Ukraine. Defense Minister Bill Blair said Ukrainian troops would be trained to use them over the summer.
Additionaly, Britain said it would announce 242 million pounds ($309.5 million) in humanitarian aid for Ukraine during the summit, which brings together the leaders of seven of the world's wealthiest countries.
Earlier on June 12, U.S. officials were quoted as saying Washington will provide another Patriot missile system in response to Ukraine's pleas for more air defenses as devastating Russian strikes keep the country on edge and decimate its energy grid, forcing Kyiv to import record amounts of power.
Germany on June 11 also pledged to send a Patriot system, along with Gepard self-propelled antiaircraft guns and an IRIS-T air-defense system.
The G7 summit kicks off a day after Russia killed at least nine people in a deadly attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih.
A major city in the Dnipropetrovsk region, KryviyRih is President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown and has been the target of Russian air attacks multiple times in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government on June 13 said G7 nations had separately agreed to provide more than $1 billion to support Ukraine’s energy sector.
Ukraine's Energy Ministry said in a statement the country would import 29,796 megawatt hours on June 12, exceeding the previous record of up to 28,000 MWh set earlier this month.
