G-7 has achieved "very good" progress on an agreement to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine. Leaders "hope" to reach an agreement as early as today within the framework of their meeting in Italy, the White House said, reported AFP and BTA.
"There is very good progress in the discussions between the delegations to reach an agreement,", White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is accompanying US President Joe Biden, told reporters.
"We hope that by the meeting of the leaders today we will have a common vision,", the advisor added, given that the heads of state and government of the richest countries in the world are about to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Under the Italian presidency, the leaders of the G7 (USA, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada and Japan) are gathering in the luxury seaside resort of Borgo Egnatia in Puglia, southern Italy.
The US is pressuring the G7 countries to agree to a megaloan of about $50 billion, guaranteed by future interest generated by Russian assets frozen since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which amount to 300 billion euros.
The countries of the European Union already adopted an agreement at the beginning of May to seize the revenues from the frozen Russian assets to be used to arm Ukraine, which are worth between 2.5 and 3 billion euros per year.
According to Sullivan, the delegations are still working out the details, including the number of participating countries and the financial mechanism that will be used.
"The Italian presidency (of the G7) has done a very good job of bringing everyone around the table," he said.
"The general guidelines have been set, but some details still need to be worked out by the experts on a precise schedule," Sullivan explained.
Biden is also expected to hold a one-on-one meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit to sign a US-Ukraine security agreement. After that, the two leaders will hold a joint press conference.