U.S. to push G7 on bond for Ukraine backed by frozen Russian asset profits - Reuters

That's according to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

The official told reporters ahead of Yellen's May 21-25 trip to Frankfurt, Germany, and the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Stresa, Italy, that the G7 is "making progress" toward consensus on a plan to harness some $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets frozen since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The G7 finance ministers have been tasked with recommending a plan for G7 leaders to adopt at a summit in June in southern Italy.

Yellen had previously pushed for full confiscation of the largely euro-denominated assets, but officials in Europe, concerned about risks to the euro and problematic legal precedents, have balked, opting instead for a more conservative plan to put the earnings -- estimated at around $3.5 billion per year -- into a fund for Ukraine.

Since then, the U.S. has proposed a plan to pull forward the interest on the assets to back a bond or a loan that would provide Ukraine perhaps $50 billion in the near term as it battles increasing Russian military pressure in its east and north.

The reaction from G7 finance ministries so far has been cautious. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday that any proposals to use the frozen Russian assets must comply with international law.

The French Economics and Finance Ministry said in a statement: "France supports and shares the fact that more resources are needed for Ukraine. We have taken note of the U.S. proposal and we will work together technically at the G7 level and at the European level to determine the best option."

The U.S. Treasury official said there was a unified goal among the G7 countries to provide more money to Ukraine, and to demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he cannot simply "wait out our coalition."

"What we are involved in is trying to engage in hard, detailed economic diplomacy to make sure we can all get on the same page. And I think we're making progress there," the official said.

The G7 industrial democracies are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.