The massive loan – worth £40 million – will be used to help rebuild the war-ravaged nation and will be paid for by using Russian assets frozen following the Kremlin-backed invasion.
The Prime Minister said Britain had led the way in securing the deal, which was announced last night (Thur) at the G7 summit.
He said the “unprecedented and complex” package had been two years in the making and would help thwart Putin’s barbaric invaders.
Speaking to reporters at the two-day summit in Puglia, Italy, the PM said: “What we’re announcing is a game-changing package of support for Ukraine that will be funded from the G7, and it will be funded by the profits on the seized Russian assets.
“It’s fantastic news, it’s something that I personally and the UK have been leading on and championing for some time now.
“So to get it over the line is obviously great news. And it just demonstrates the G7 is completely united in doing whatever it can and whatever it takes to support Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression.
“The money is provided by the G7 as a loan and then secured against the profits of the assets that have been immobilised.”
Leaders from the US, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and the EU all backed the massive loan which uses interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after the 2022 invasion.
The announcement was officially made by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on day one of the summit.
Earlier, Mr Sunak and Western allies hit the Kremlin with 50 new sanctions to degrade Putin’s war machine.
New targets include ships in the despot’s shadow fleet, institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system and suppliers supporting its military production.
The PM had already announced a new £242 million assistance package to Ukraine, to support immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilisation needs.
At the start of the summit Mr Sunak joined Ms Meloni, US President Joe Biden, French President Emanuel Macron, EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for the official leaders “family photo” at the luxurious Borgo Egnazia resort.
made.
Mr Sunak also met Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at the event.
The PM said he had had a “good” meeting with Mr Macron but dodged questions as to wther he had apologised to him for leaving last week’s D-Day commemoration early.
“Actually I had a very good meeting with Emmanuel (Macron) and what we’ve been talking about is all the issues that I’ve just been discussing, particularly supporting Ukraine,” he said.
If election opinion polls are right, the trip to Puglia could see his last meeting as PM with the group of top nations.
Also heading to the summit on Friday is Pope Francis, who will become the first pontiff to attend a G7.
He’s due to address the issue of artificial intelligence.
The 87-year-old has previously called for the global regulation of AI, warning of its danger to human rights and ethics.
The UK and G7 leaders have been clear that Russia must pay for the damage it is causing Ukraine.
Russia’s oil exports are Putin’s most critical revenue source for funding his illegal war in Ukraine.
Tax on oil production collected by the Kremlin in 2023 amounted to 8.9 trillion roubles, or 31% of Russia’s total federal revenues.
The tough new sanction package aims to disrupt and increase the costs of Russia’s efforts to bypass UK and G7 sanctions through its shadow fleet.
They also target suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, along with ships which transport military goods from North Korea to Russia.
It also cracks down on institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system, including the Moscow Stock Exchange.
Mr Sunak said: “The UK will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for freedom.
“Today we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia’s ability to fund its war machine. Putin must lose, and cutting off his ability to fund a prolonged conflict is absolutely vital.”
Foreign Secretary, David Cameron said: “UK sanctions are starving Putin of the revenue he desperately needs to fund his war chest and making it harder to supply his war machine.
“We will continue to work alongside our partners to increase economic pressure and demonstrate that the UK and the G7 will stand by Ukraine in this fight.”
So far, sanctions have deprived Russia of over $400bn worth of assets and revenues since February 2022.
That’s equivalent to four more years of funding for the invasion.
The UK has sanctioned over 2,000 individuals and entities under our Russia sanctions regime.
This includes 29 banks accounting for over 90% of the Russian banking sector and over 130 oligarchs and family members who had a combined net worth around £147 billion at the time of the invasion.
More than £20 billion of UK-Russia bilateral trade (2021 figures) is now under full or partial sanction. There has been a 99% fall in Russian imports into the UK, and a 73% fall in UK exports to Russia.
