Lend-Lease Act of 2222 will permit the White House unrestricted weapons transfer to Ukraine
On Monday, President Joe Biden signed into law the Lend-Lease Act (2022). The Act previously used to arm Allies during World War II will be expedited to send arms to Ukraine.
Biden pledged to keep arming the Ukrainians, as he signed the Act at the White House “in their fight to defend their country and their democracy.”He said, “He added…” “the cost of the fight is not cheap but caving to aggression is even more costly.”
Congress passed the act last month with 417-10 votes and no dissent from the Senate. It suspends restrictions on how many weapons or other military supplies Biden may send to Ukraine. “other Eastern European countries,”It does however stipulate that Kiev has to pay any money it gets.
Weapons sent under this act are separate from the nearly $4 billion in military aid that the US has already sent to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s military operation in February, and from the $33 billion worth of military aid that the president recently asked Congress to approve.
The original lend-lease was enacted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in March 1941 – nine months before the US entered WWII – and amounted to $50.1 billion (980 billion in 2022 dollars) by September 1945. The Allies (including the Soviet Union) were to finance this aid but the US accepted the leasing of military bases.
Kiev’s ability to repay the US is currently questionable, considering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently asked the US and EU for $7 billion per month just to keep his country afloat.
That Biden chose May 9 to sign the WWII-era act was likely deliberate, considering that this date is celebrated as ‘Victory Day’ annually in Russia and a number of former Soviet countries, commemorating the defeat of fascism at the end of the Second World War.
Biden mentioned the victory over Nazi Germany at the Monday signing ceremony, but did no mention Victory Day. He instead noted that the European Coal and Steel Community was created on May 9, 1950, and would eventually expand to the European Union.
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Russia commemorates Victory Day (PHOTOS).
Kiev and Zelensky welcomed the signing of this act declaringIt is a “historic step”This will benefit both the US and Ukraine “win together again … like 77 years ago.” Although Zelensky referenced WWII in his statement, the modern country’s history books often refer to it as a ‘German-Soviet war’, and Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera are now national heroes in Ukraine.
Zelensky posted a picture of a Ukrainian soldier in Waffen SS Insignia on his Facebook account earlier Monday to mark Victory Day. He then deleted the photo.
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