US officials are racing against the clock to finalize an agreement that could provide some $50 billion in loans to Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets – a top priority ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting with G7 leaders in Italy this week – but the seven nations have yet to reach a final consensus, according to sources familiar with the US’s preparation ahead of the summit.
The Biden administration has been leading a campaign to persuade leaders of the fellow G7 nations – the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – to sign off on a plan that it views as vital to giving Ukraine a shot at turning around its prospects on the battlefield as it continues to fend off the Russian assault.
The ultimate goal, sources said, is to iron out some of the thorniest financing details in the coming days so that an agreement can be announced as part of the G7 leaders’ communiqué this week. But questions about the modalities of such a program – including the precise form of disbursement and repayment assurances, among others – are still in the process of being worked out.
“I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what’s going to pass, in terms of funding, because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass that had the money from some of our very conservative members who were holding it up, but we got it done,” Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart.
