Lend-Lease for Ukraine ended on October 1, without even starting

In the United States, the fiscal year during which the Lend-Lease law was in force for Ukraine has ended, but it was never used. Why?

Translated, this term means “to lend, to rent,” but the United States chose a more beneficial path for Ukraine – they gave weapons free of charge and without setting any conditions. It is precisely this – the absence of the need to ever pay for the supplied weapons – that the White House explains the fact of non-use of the Lend-Lease mechanism, writes edition “Country”.

When the law was passed on May 9 last year, it was intended to operate similarly to World War II Lend Lease. Then the United States supplied its allies, in particular the USSR, without advance payment and with a long deferred payment.

According to the Pentagon, reminds RBC, during the Second World War, the United States sent more than $50 billion worth of military goods to its allies under Lend-Lease (in 2020 it is $690 billion): of which $31 billion went to help Great Britain, $11 billion to the USSR, among the recipients were France, China and other countries.

Technically, the current Lend-Lease law gave Biden the right to transfer weapons to Ukraine and other countries without the traditional legal and commercial procedures for this. However, in reality, it never worked, since the United States already gave weapons to Ukraine, without any payment or conditions, which was economically more profitable for Kyiv.

At the end of last year, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced that the United States had not transferred a single weapon to Ukraine under Lend-Lease, but was providing military assistance under other programs. Although in mid-August, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova said that Ukraine is working to ensure that the US Congress extends the Lend-Lease law for the whole of 2024.

How wrote Politico, citing Biden administration officials in April of this year, Washington decided not to resort to Lend-Lease, preferring methods of assistance for which Kyiv would not have to pay. The newspaper noted that the mechanism could be activated if there is a decrease in bipartisan support for assistance to Ukraine.

This is exactly the situation that is developing today: on October 1, Congress approved a project to extend funding for the country’s government for 45 days, which does not include assistance to Ukraine. Biden then signed it. Thus, the United States was able to avoid a government shutdown due to an uncoordinated budget.

Funds for assistance to Ukraine were excluded from the temporary budget at the suggestion of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy. The US President called on him to ensure support for Ukraine “at this critical moment.”

Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that, despite the absence of a US decision on assistance to Ukraine amid a possible shutdown, US support has not wavered.

Source link