Hello and welcome to News Out from the BBC World Service.

We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez.

And we're going to begin today with the war in Ukraine and specifically Western efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

Those have been discussed at the G7 summit taking place in Italy that is the leaders of Italy the US France the UK

Germany Canada and Japan and after months of negotiations they've agreed a

mechanism to send 50 billion billion in assistance to Kieve based on frozen Russian

assets held in the West.

More on how that will work in a moment.

And there's been another significant step in the past hour or so. A new 10-year

security agreement between the US and Ukraine signed in Italy by President's Biden and Zelensky.

And in the past few minutes the two men have appeared at a news conference.

Here is what President Biden had to say.

A lasting peace for Ukraine must be underwritten by Ukraine's own ability to defend itself

now and to deter future aggression anytime in the future. The United States is going to help ensure the Ukraine can do both,

not by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine, but by providing weapons and ammunition,

expanding intelligence sharing, continuing to train brave Ukrainian troops

at bases in Europe and the United States, enhancing interoperability between our military

in line with NATO standards.

Investing in Ukraine's defense industrial base,

so in time, in time they can supply their own weapons and munitions.

Working with Ukraine's partners to build a future

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