(PatriotWise.com) — President Biden signed a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Thursday while attending the annual G7 Summit in Italy.
The White House hailed the non-binding agreement as a milestone for the two countries. However, President Zelenskyy remained uncertain about how much longer the US would continue to support Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also called for additional air defense systems, which he said were urgently needed to protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the civilians in northeastern Ukraine who are under constant bombardment from the Russians.
President Biden said the goal of the bilateral agreement was to “strengthen Ukraine’s defense and deterrence capabilities.”
In a joint press conference with Biden last week, Zelenskyy described the signing as a “truly historic day,” but voiced concern about how long the United States and its Western allies would remain united in their continued support for his country. He also questioned how the upcoming elections in the US and Europe might impact the West’s support for the war.
President Biden told reporters that the US had obtained commitments from five unnamed countries to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems, including Patriot missile systems. He claimed that countries expecting US air defense systems had told him that they were sending “everything we have” to Ukraine until its “needs are met.”
Biden assured President Zelenskyy that Ukraine would receive some Patriot missile systems “relatively quickly.”
Zelenskyy warned Western leaders that if his country was unable to “withstand” Russian aggression, he was not sure if other democratic countries could.
The G7 leaders also approved a plan to loan Ukraine $50 billion, secured by the vast profits earned on Russian sovereign assets frozen in the West. President Biden also imposed a series of new sanctions against Russia, which, combined with the loan package, would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could not “wait us out” or “divide us,” the president said.
The first payments from the $50 billion loan were expected to be sent to Ukraine later this year, according to a US official.
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