VDL: "All G7 Countries Are Contributing To $50BLN Loan To Ukraine"

Wires carrying comments from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stating that, "G7 finance ministers now going through details of $50 bln loan to Ukraine, including backstops, they will clarify as soon as possible."

• Von der Leyen's comments hint at an agreement on how to backstop the loan, addressing concerns reportedlyraised by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the G7 summit.
• Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund think tank, told DW: "If you securitize and issue a bond based on those future returns today, you have to guarantee that the underlying assets remain frozen for, say, 10-20 years. So someone needs to guarantee that these assets will not be given back to Russia in the meantime. So are we outright saying that Russia won't get its money back and does that constitute backdoor confiscation?"
• Von der leyen added: "All G7 countries are contributing to $50 bln loan to Ukraine backed by proceeds of immobilised Russian assets."
• US President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 13:45 ET 18:45 BST: LIVESTREAM