The presidents of the United States and Ukraine have signed an agreement laying out Washington's long-term security relationship with Kiev on the sidelines of the G7 in southern Italy on Thursday.
US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bilateral deal that comes after 15 countries concluded similar long-term security agreements with Kiev including Britain, France and Germany.
Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that the agreement would not include the obligation for Washington to deploy US troops to Ukraine, nor would it contain commitments to supply specific weapons systems.
The agreement broadly regulates cooperation between the two countries at all possible levels, including with regard to military equipment, training and manoeuvres.
At the same time, Ukraine is called upon to implement various reforms in the areas of justice, law enforcement and fighting corruption, but also in military capabilities and structures to achieve NATO standards in the future.
As expected, the agreement does not contain any commitments to deploy American armed forces for the defence of Ukraine. Biden has always categorically ruled this out - despite recent appeals from French President Emmanuel Macron to send military trainers there.
Washington says the aim is rather to enable Ukraine to continue to defend itself. The agreement also makes no promises to supply specific weapons systems.
The US government interpreted the agreement with Kiev as a message to Moscow, notably that it is committed to continued and longer-term support for Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February 2022 and has been waging a large-scale war of aggression against the neighbouring country ever since.
The US is Kiev's most important ally in the defence campaign. Both sides had been negotiating the bilateral security agreement for some time.
Zelensky had expressed the hope of making it the strongest of all agreements. And indeed, the promises made by the US military power are of particular value to Ukraine.
Earlier, the summit in southern Italy began with an agreement to lend Ukraine $50 billion using money generated from frozen Russian state assets, in a major show of support for Kiev.
Group of Seven leaders said an agreement had been reached on the large loan package. Kiev is set to use the money to strengthen its defence, pay for the reconstruction of infrastructure and fund the state budget.
Financing: the devil is in the details
Planning for the structure of the loan package has been under way for some time. The United States had originally campaigned in favour of collecting not only the interest income, but also the frozen assets themselves and using them to provide financial support to Kiev.
The US government says around $280 billion of Russian central bank money has been immobilized in Western countries due to sanctions imposed since Russia began its full-scale attack on Ukraine more than two years ago. The bulk of the Russian money is within the European Union.
The Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear - by far the largest holder in the EU of frozen Russian central bank assets - recently said that it had collected around €4.4 billion ($4.7 billion) in interest in 2023.
But some European capitals had major reservations about using both the principle and the interest, resulting in the compromise in which the interest is used as collateral to pay off the loan.
US steps in in case politics changes the loan picture
One thorny issue is who would bear the credit risks if the EU sanctions on the assets could not be extended, for instance due to the veto of a member state. That would mean that the interest could no longer be used to pay off the loan.
On Thursday the US declared its willingness to bear the main burden of the multibillion-dollar loan, a high-ranking US government representative said on the sidelines of the summit.
The US is willing to provide up to $50 billion, or the total amount of the loan to Kiev - the US official said, though he emphasized: "We will not be the only lenders," adding others would also participate.
Moscow angry at loan for Ukraine
Russia criticized the loan to Ukraine. "Using the funds effectively stolen from Russia for the warlike adventures of the Kiev regime is criminal and cynical and represents a further blow to international law," said Russian Foreign Office spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a press briefing.
She threatened that the Russian reaction would be "painful" for Brussels.
The G7 states' plan would have fatal consequences, Zakharova said, adding such initiatives further undermine the global financial system and lead to destructive crises.
The plan will also have direct consequences for European companies in Russia, she said. "There is enough European property and capital, as you know - spokesmen of our government have spoken about this several times," she said, hinting at expropriations.
