G7 to agree $50 bln Ukraine loan at Italy summit

A general view shows the Swabian Castle of Brindisi (Castello Svevo), the venue that will host the welcome dinner of the G7 Summit, on June 12, 2024 in Brindisi.

G7 leaders gather Thursday for the first day of an Italy summit, hoping to seal a deal on providing $50 billion for Ukraine using frozen Russian assets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from Italy, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan at the luxury Borgo Egnazia resort in Puglia.

The G7 leaders hope to agree on an urgent $50 billion loan to help Kiev with defense, budgetary support and help for reconstruction after more than two years of war with Russia.

The loan would be secured against the future profits from interest on 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of Russian central bank assets frozen by Western allies.

"We are on the verge of a good outcome here," U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

"Hopefully by the time that leaders meet today, we will have a common vision on the way forward," he told reporters ahead of the formal opening of the summit.

But he said delegations were still thrashing out the details, including how many countries would "step up" and the kind of financial vehicle involved.

"We have the major tentpoles of this decided but some of the specifics will be left to be worked through by experts on a defined timetable," he told reporters.

French President Emmanuel Macron's office on Wednesday said a deal had been agreed on providing $50 billion for Ukraine before the end of the year, but said that technical details still needed to be finalised.

The European Union agreed earlier this year to use the profits from the frozen Russian assets for Ukraine,...