14-06-24, 05:57
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G7 Agree $50BIL MORE Aid For Ukraine From RUSSIAs' Sanctioned Frozen Money
Joe Biden Says Democracies Can Deliver as G7 Agree $50BIL Ukraine Aid Deal
Leaders of the G7 reached an agreement that will mobilise an extra $50BIL (£39BIL) of aid to Ukraine using frozen Russian state assets.
President hails breakthrough as US and Ukraine also announce 10-year bilateral security agreement
The Guardian 14 JUN 2024
Speaking at the G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, on Thursday, Biden hailed the breakthrough as he met Ukraine’s president Volodymr Zelenskiy and announced the two countries had also signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement, ending 12 months of difficult negotiations.
“We are putting our money to work for Ukraine, and giving another reminder to Putin that we are not backing down,” Biden said at a joint press conference with the Ukrainian leader.
Biden said arrangements were being made to provide Ukraine with five Patriot missile defence systems, saying: “Everything we have is going to Ukraine until its needs are met.”
But he ruled out US weapons being used to strike deeper into Russia beyond the weapons bases being used to strike the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. “In terms of longer range of weapons into the interior of Russia we are not changing our positions,” he said.
Zelenskiy described the deal as the “strongest agreement” struck since his country’s independence in 1991. “Today is a truly historic day,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader described the security guarantee as “a very detailed legally binding agreement” that lasts not just for the duration of the war but afterwards, too. He said the deal covers intelligence cooperation and the strengthening of Ukrainian defence industries.
Zelenskiy said he had been given undertakings by the Chinese president Xi Jinping that Beijing would not sell weapons to Russia. “He gave me his word,” he said. But Biden argued that China, by supplying technology and dual-use components, was in fact arming Russia.
Earlier in the day, Biden sought to rally western political leaders as they face an unprecedented attack from the populist right, saying: “We stand at an inflection point in history that occurs every five or six, seven generations, and the decisions that we make now will determine the course of our future.
“I’m proud to announce we have mobilised more than $50bn in investments around the world. Together we are showing democracies can deliver.”
His remarks came as the G7 reached an outline provisional deal to use the profits derived from frozen Russian sovereign assets to underwrite a $50bn loan to Ukraine designed to help fend off the impact of Russian military attacks.
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