To help Ukraine buy more weapons and rebuild damaged critical infrastructure, the United States and other Group of Seven nations agreed Thursday to provide a $50 billion loan to Kyiv this year to be repaid using interest generated by $300 billion worth of immobilized Russian funds.
The first of a three-day leaders’ summit in the Italian resort village of Borgo Egnazia also saw Washington sign a 10-year, nonbinding security agreement with Kyiv designed to help bolster the the war-torn country’s deterrence capabilities while putting it on track for eventual NATO membership — much to chagrin of Russia, which vehemently opposes neighboring Ukraine joining the world’s largest and most powerful military alliance.
Several other members of the U.S.-led coalition also clinched similar long-term security agreements with Ukraine, including Japan, which signed its own support deal with Kyiv the same day. These nations fear a recent battlefield push by Russia, particularly around Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, could reverse Ukraine’s hard fought territorial gains.
Kyiv, which has reportedly received White House permission to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia near the Kharkiv region, has repeatedly asked for increased international military and financial support as it struggles to repel the Russian invasion and awaits delivery of an additional $60 billion worth of U.S. weapons and munitions approved by Washington in April.
“We’re not backing down. In fact, we’re standing together against this illegal aggression,” U.S. President Joe Biden told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The loan, security deals and a set of new, collective sanctions meant to disrupt third countries such as China that have been supplying dual-use items to Russia are meant to send a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden added.