US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US government is offering "a sovereign loan guarantee to Ukraine of up to USD one billion to support its economic reform agenda and continued engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)."
"This offer- combined with the strong partnership between Ukraine, the IMF, other international financial institutions, the G7, and other bilateral donors - will bolster Ukraine's ability to ensure economic stability, growth, and prosperity for its people in the face of Russia's destabilizing behavior," Blinken said in a statement according to CNN.
In turn, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter "another call with @SecBlinken. We keep actively coordinating efforts to protect Ukraine. Grateful to the U.S. for the decision to provide Ukraine with macro-financial assistance."
This comes in light of US expectations that a Russian attack on Ukraine sometime this week is more likely than not, which Moscow has not announced yet, while President Vladimir Putin said he is "willing to negotiate."
The Finance Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan said in a joint statement "our immediate priority is to support efforts to de-escalate the situation."
"We reiterate that in particular any further military aggression by Russia against Ukraine will be met with a swift, coordinated and forceful response" the statement added. The Finance Ministers also affirmed their readiness "to act in a strongly coordinated manner with further economic and financial support for Ukraine."
