Washington has not yet provided weapons to Ukraine under Lend-Lease: here is why

Ukraine receives military aid from the United States under other programs, and Washington does not use lend-lease so far to save the Ukrainian budget in the future.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, said this in a comment to hromadske.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine explained that the lend-lease mechanism consists of the fact that the United States of America can transfer to Ukraine the defense products available for rent or on leasing terms.

He said: "The advantage of this tool is the speed of decision-making by the US Administration according to a simplified procedure without excessive bureaucracy and the need for votes on each aid package to Ukraine in the US Congress. The disadvantage is that the volume of supplies of American weapons within the framework of lend-lease directly depends on Ukraine's financial capabilities."

Details: According to Nikolenko, at this stage of the war, the United States decides to provide military aid to Ukraine at the expense of its own federal budget since insufficient aid or its ineffectiveness "will have fatal consequences for the entire free democratic world."

As the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes, within the framework of the relevant US law on additional appropriations for the support of Ukraine, Kyiv currently receives security and defense assistance under three programs: Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and replenishment of US weapons stocks (Replenishment of US weapons stocks).

Under these programs, military assistance is provided free of charge. That is, the current programs, unlike lend-lease, do not provide for compensation from Ukraine for the cost of provided weapons, military equipment, and ammunition.

"In addition to the bilateral dimension of assistance from the United States, the American side was the initiator of the creation of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine, in the work of which 50 countries currently participate. Thanks to joint diplomatic efforts and the leading role of the United States, it was possible to mobilize the provision of weapons to Ukraine by NATO members and other partners at a cost 40 billion dollars," Nikolenko said.

Of these 40 billion, more than 19.3 billion dollars came from the USA.

Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, together with other state bodies, is working to obtain help from allies for better protection against air threats.

Reference

US President Joe Biden signed the Lend-Lease Law for Ukraine on May 9, 2022. It entered into force on October 1.

The document provides an opportunity to significantly speed up the supply of weapons, transport, food, and other aid for rent or free of charge from the USA to Ukraine. Thanks to lend-lease, the White House will not have to wait for a special allocation of funds for this by Congress.

The Lend-Lease program was last used during World War II. At that time, the USA supplied the Allies with ammunition, equipment, and other necessary raw materials and food to fight against Nazi Germany.