Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden sign a bilateral security agreement during a news conference on the sidelines of the G7 Summit hosted by Italy in Apulia region, on June 13 in Savelletri.FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/Getty Images
The United States and Ukraine signed a 10-year security agreement at the G7 summit, and negotiators at the gathering reached a deal that would hand Ukraine a US$50-billion loan connected to frozen Russian assets, an indication Kyiv’s Western allies expect its already-lengthy conflict with Moscow to last longer still.
At a joint news conference Thursday evening, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced the 10-year deal.
Mr. Biden, standing with Mr. Zelensky on a stage at the G7 site in Fasano, in southern Italy, said the agreement, which pledges U.S. support in weapons, infrastructure and other critical areas, “was another reminder to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that we are not backing down.”
Mr. Zelensky, speaking in English, said: “This is an agreement to guarantee sustainable peace.”
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This does not guarantee the U.S. will automatically defend Ukraine if Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began almost 2½ years ago, accelerates. The deal is not the equivalent of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which says that an attack on one NATO member is deemed an attack on all of them. Ukraine is not a NATO member, but wants to join. The military alliance has reaffirmed that the country will become a member, though the process could take years.
The separate G7 deal on the $50-billion loan would see it repaid by the profits on the roughly US$280-billion of frozen Russian financial assets held abroad, most of them in Europe at the Belgian clearing house Euroclear. Those profits come to US$3-billion or more a year.
The loan will be provided by G7 countries based on the sizes of their economies. At the G7, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada’s contribution to the “G7 Extraordinary Acceleration Loans for Ukraine” will be $5-billion.
“We are working with G7 partners to address the most pressing challenges of our time and to build a world with stability and security,” Mr. Trudeau said. “At the G7 summit today, we announced supports for Ukraine in its defence of freedom, action to hold Russia accountable for its war of aggression and shared efforts to grow inclusive, fair and dynamic global economies.”
The European Union had proposed handing only the profits from the Russian assets to Kyiv. The U.S., backed by Canada and Britain, had floated the more ambitious idea of using the profits to back a US$50-billion loan, an amount that would allow Ukraine to buy large amounts of weapons in the short-to-medium term. Mr. Zelensky had been urging his Western allies for the larger amount.
In recent months, the war has gone badly for Ukraine, with Russian forces making small but steady progress in the eastern parts of the country. Ukraine’s military has been forced to ration everything from air-defence missiles to 155-mm cannon shells as stores of weapons fell short.
Mr. Zelensky said the loan would help Ukraine equip its reserve brigades, allowing exhausted front-line troops to take a break from fighting that often resembles horrific, First World War-style trench warfare. He added that it would also help pay for squadrons of fighter-bombers, such as the dozens of American-made F-16s that should arrive in Ukraine later this year, after pilot training is completed.
Details of the loan, including who would bear the ultimate risk in case the payments went into default, were not known on Thursday. It seems likely that many of those details will be worked out after the G7 ends on June 16.
The size of the loan, and its potentially long repayment period, suggests that the G7 leaders think the Ukraine-Russia war will not end any time soon, though Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has said he could end the war in “24 hours.”
The U.S.-Ukraine security agreement does not require the authorization of the U.S. Congress, but also does not provide Ukraine with any new funding, only a commitment that the U.S. will work with Congress on future funding. The text of the agreement says it can be terminated by either country on six months’ notice, which would give Mr. Trump the ability to cancel it if he wins November’s presidential election.
Mr. Biden has said previously that the agreement with Ukraine would be equivalent to those with Israel, covering military and financial aid as well as possible joint weapons production.
The announcement of the U.S.-Ukraine security deal occurred on the same day Japan and Ukraine signed a similar deal on the sidelines of the summit. Ukraine has signed 15 such agreements pledging long-term support.
“In 2024, Japan will provide Ukraine with US$4.5-billion and will continue to support us throughout the agreement’s entire 10-year term,” Mr. Zelensky said on social media.
He said the deal will cover security and defence assistance, humanitarian aid and financial and technical co-operation.
Canada’s announcement that it will back the US$50-billion loan to Ukraine is part of a broader package designed to help the country. It includes a new sanctions package against 11 individuals and 16 entities who supply key technology and electrical components to support Russia’s invasion. The United States at the same time announced 300 new sanctions against Russian companies and individuals.
Ottawa also said the first four of 50 Canadian-built armoured vehicles, designed for medical evacuation, would be sent to Ukraine. Their delivery is part of a $650-million funding package announced by Canada last September.