Japan to reportedly cover $3.3 billion of G7 loan to Ukraine
Japan will shoulder $3.3 billion of the loan pledged by the Group of Seven (G7) to Ukraine covered by Russian assets proceeds, Kyodo News reported on July 17, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.
The G7 pledged the $50-billion loan to Ukraine during a June summit in Italy to aid the country as it faces Russia's full-scale invasion. It should be repaid using revenue from the roughly $300 billion Russian assets frozen in the accounts of Western countries and other partners.
The sum, which Ukraine hopes to receive by the end of the year before a potential return of Donald Trump to the White House, includes a $20-billion pledge by the U.S. and the EU each, Kyodo News wrote.
Japan, Canada, and the U.K. are expected to cover the remaining $10 billion. Ottawa previously said it is ready to shoulder $5 billion of the loan.
Sources told Kyodo News that individual EU member states who also sit in the G7 – Italy, Germany, and France – will not participate in the lending program at the moment as they are focused on similar efforts within the EU framework.
This confirms the words of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said in June that individual EU countries would not be directly involved and would instead help develop a guarantee mechanism for repaying the loan.
Under a separate program, the EU said it would soon provide the first tranche of 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from the frozen Russian assets profits to fund Ukraine's reconstruction and defense needs.
Dominic Culverwell
