A Group of Seven summit opened with an agreement reached on a proposal by the United States to back a $US50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral, giving Kyiv a strong show of support.
"Another reminder to Putin: We're not backing down. In fact, we're standing together against this illegal aggression," Biden said at a news conference, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by his side.US President Joe Biden rules out commuting son Hunter's sentence after gun crimes conviction
The agreement was hashed out hours before Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni opened the summit at a luxury resort in southern Italy, saying she wanted the message of the meeting to be one of dialogue with the global south and unity.The US proposal involves engineering a $75 billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia that would use interest earned on profits from Russia's frozen central bank assets, most of them held in the European Union, as collateral.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, foreground, and US President Joe Biden announced a new security deal on the sidelines of the G7 summit.