Almost a year ago, US President Joe Biden signed legislation providing material provision for Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion. However, Washington has not yet used Lend-Lease to prevent the Ukrainian budget from suffering huge expenses in the future. Instead, US military aid is now being transferred to Ukraine under other programs.
As Politico’s sources explain, there are two reasons for this. First, the country still has Congress-approved finances to support Ukraine so that it can provide aid on a free basis. Second, there is still bipartisan support for supplying arms to Ukraine.
If that situation changes, using Lend-Lease to circumvent legislative efforts to block future arms shipments makes sense.