“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, who is hosting the G7 this year, said on Thursday.
Meloni had invited President Volodymr Zelenskyy to join a special summit session on the Ukraine war with US President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The G7 plan for Ukraine is based on a multiyear loan using profits from some $300bn of impounded Russian funds.
The issue is complicated, however, because if the Russian assets one day are unfrozen, then the windfall profits will no longer be able to be used to pay off the loan.
Each G7 country will contribute to the loan package, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“All G7 are contributing to this loan. It is the windfall profits from the Russian immobilised assets in Europe that will serve it,” von der Leyen told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in southern Italy.
The deal on Ukraine’s loan agreed upon at the three-day summit, where leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) are convening, marks “a very historic step and a historic decision,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.
SD/PR
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