(Bari) G7 leaders welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky with open arms in Italy on Thursday, announcing a $50 billion loan and an agreement to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv defend itself, but the Ukrainian president told them also asked to accelerate their weapons deliveries and training of pilots on the F-16.
Mr. Zelensky joined the heads of state and government of the “Group of 7” (United States, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan) in Borgo Egnazia, near Bari, in the south of Italy.
Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron and their counterparts met in this luxurious seaside resort to discuss, in particular, new aid and a financial support mechanism to make assets grow, for the benefit of Ukraine. Russians frozen by the West.
“We have reached a political agreement to provide additional financial support to Ukraine of around $50 billion by the end of the year,” said the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, whose country ensures this year the rotating presidency of the G7.
Olaf Scholz hailed a “historic” deal.
“It is right that Russia pays,” responded Mr. Zelensky at the “Group of 7” table, demanding the outright confiscation of the 300 billion euros in assets of the Russian central bank frozen by the EU and the G7, which the latter refuse for legal reasons.
“I confirm to you that we have reached a political agreement to provide additional financial support to Ukraine of around $50 billion by the end of the year,” said Meloni, whose country chairs the G7 this year.
Faced with the prospect of a return to the White House of Donald Trump and the uncertainty surrounding the consequences of his election for Ukraine, the G7 countries, which include Ukraine’s main military and financial supporters since the Russian invasion of February 2022, want to secure funding for this aid.
At the initiative of the United States, they therefore approved the principle of a $50 billion loan for Kyiv, guaranteed by future interest generated by immobilized Russian assets.
“This is a solidarity loan” of which the share assumed by each country is not yet known, a senior White House official explained Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelensky also signed two ten-year bilateral security agreements on Thursday, one with Washington, the other with Tokyo.
“Today, the United States is sending a strong signal of our strong support for Ukraine,” Joe Biden’s administration announced in a statement.
The United States also announced on Wednesday a new round of sanctions aimed at curbing the Russian war effort, targeting entities located in Russia and countries including China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Zelensky thanked his allies for this aid while calling on them to “accelerate” their deliveries of weapons and ammunition.
“We are still looking for additional Patriot [air defense systems],” he recalled. “I also ask you to do everything to accelerate our transition to the (American fighter) F-16, which means accelerating pilot training,” he said.
NATO admitted on Thursday that it was struggling to find new air defense systems to deliver to Kyiv. “I have no announcement to make on the Patriot batteries today” Thursday, admitted the American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, on the sidelines of a meeting in Brussels with his counterparts from the Atlantic Alliance.
Volodymyr Zelensky will then travel to Switzerland for a “Ukraine Peace Conference” that will bring together more than 90 countries and organizations on Saturday and Sunday, but neither Russia nor China.
Friday should focus largely on trade and political tensions with China, Moscow’s backer. Americans and Europeans denounce Beijing’s industrial overcapacity, which is flooding their markets with low-cost subsidized products.
Accusing Beijing in particular of illegally boosting its electric vehicle manufacturers, the European Commission threatened on Wednesday to impose additional customs duties.
China threatened to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday.
Finally, the war in Gaza is expected to occupy part of the working sessions and numerous bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit.
As the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas entered its 9th month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made yet another tour of the Middle East to try to salvage the ceasefire plan announced on May 31 by Joe Biden.
Mr. Blinken deemed certain changes requested by Hamas “unachievable” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not officially respond.
