(Bari) G7 leaders welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky with open arms in Italy on Thursday, announcing a shower of dollars and an agreement on the use of frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv defend itself, but the Ukrainian president also asked them to accelerate their arms deliveries and training of F-16 pilots.
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 Puglia (south ).
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 the Russian assets frozen by the West grow for the benefit of Ukraine.
After Paris and Berlin, Washington confirmed on Thursday “a political agreement” in this complex issue. A “historic” agreement, welcomed Olaf Scholz.
“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 for the moment they are refusing for legal reasons.
Faced with the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House 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 the financing of 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 bilateral security agreements on Thursday, one with Washington, the other with Tokyo.
The United States also announced a new round of sanctions on Wednesday aimed at curbing Russia’s war effort, targeting entities located in Russia and in 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 Patriot batteries today (Thursday),” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitted on the sidelines of a meeting in Brussels with his Alliance counterparts. Atlantic.
Friday should focus largely on trade and political tensions with China, Moscow’s backer, and whose industrial overcapacity is being denounced by Americans and Europeans who are 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.
According to a European official, the Puglia summit must serve to “coordinate” the G7 strategy on this issue.
Finally, the war in Gaza should occupy part of the working sessions and the 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 save the ceasefire plan announced on May 31 by Joe Biden.
Mr Blinken has called some of the changes demanded by Hamas “unworkable” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially responded.
