A significant portion will be dedicated to Ukraine, our defense, and economic resilience," he stated in a Telegram post.
The White House announced that the G7 has made considerable progress on a US proposal to utilize frozen Russian assets to generate $50 billion (£39 billion) annually for Ukraine.
On Thursday, Mr. Zelensky, attending the summit in Puglia, southern Italy, signed a security agreement with Japan, with a similar deal anticipated with the US.
The G7 nations—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US—have been significant financial and military supporters of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. When Moscow invaded Ukraine, the group, along with the EU, froze Russian assets amounting to $325 billion, most of which are held by the Central Bank of Russia in Belgium.
Under international law, countries cannot confiscate these assets from Russia and transfer them to Ukraine. However, the frozen assets generate approximately $3 billion in interest annually. The current plan involves using this interest in a creative way: securing a loan on the international markets, providing around $50 billion to Ukraine each year, and using the $3 billion in interest to pay off the loan's interest.
Although there are numerous technicalities to address, President Biden's security adviser Jake Sullivan has indicated that the main components of the plan are in place and a favorable outcome is expected. Meanwhile, Russian officials have condemned the idea of using interest from seized assets as "theft," threatening to retaliate.
Source: BBC
Image: BBC
