(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said he’s pleased with how Group of Seven talks have advanced on funding aid via profits gleaned from Russian assets. 

He spoke on Saturday after attending a meeting of the club in Stresa, Italy, that laid the groundwork toward an eventual accord on helping Ukraine at a summit of leaders next month.

“I am satisfied with the progress,” Marchenko told reporters, observing that G-7 finance ministers are “working very hard” on the matter. 

There’s “enough time” to prepare a proposal for the leaders convening in June in southern Italy, he said, adding that he hopes that gathering will yield an agreement.  

Supporting Ukraine has been a key theme at the Stresa gathering, with the finance chiefs holding talks on how to combat Russian defense procurement and on ways to secure critical economic assistance for Kyiv beyond 2024. 

With Russia’s military offensive gaining ground, focus among Ukraine’s allies has shifted on securing medium-term assistance for the war-torn nation and sending a strong signal to Moscow that the G-7 is committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes. 

In their joint communique, G-7 finance ministers reaffirmed their commitment to helping Ukraine meet its urgent short-term financing needs and “coordinating it’s long-term recovery and reconstruction priorities,” according to the document. 

“We are making progress in our discussions on potential avenues to bring forward the extraordinary profits stemming from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to the benefit of Ukraine, consistent with international law and our respective legal systems, with a view to presenting options to provide additional financial support to Ukraine to our Leaders ahead of the Apulia Summit in June,” the communique said.

The US has been pushing for the G-7 to leverage future revenue generated from about $280 billion in Russian central bank funds, most of which lies immobilized in Europe. The plan could unlock an aid package of as much as $50 billion for Ukraine.

While G-7 leaders will ultimately decide on this plan when they meet in June, the finance chiefs gave enough of a nod to pave the way for a likely deal next month, even as several critical technical issues still need to be resolved.  

Earlier in the day, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that officials were trying to go further to help Ukraine, but insisted that “risks for taxpayers must be minimized.”

Marchenko added that he hopes European Union countries can sustain unanimity on the matter of helping Ukraine.

--With assistance from Alessandra Migliaccio, William Horobin, Kamil Kowalcze, Jorge Valero, Tom Rees and Toru Fujioka.

(Updates with communique in seventh paragraph)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.