Lend-lease is safeguard in case Biden fails to reach agreement with Congress - international relations expert Kraiev

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"US assistance to Ukraine will stay at the same level as before. We have all the safeguards in place, even if Congress decides to revise the aid. In addition, we have already approved congressional and military budgets. In case of a "rebellion" in Congress, Biden has a line item that will allow him to use this money on his own initiative. Accordingly, the US support for Ukraine will not decrease in any way," assured the expert of the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council.

Oleksandr Kraiev noted that he does not see any possibility for a small group of Republicans to have any significant impact on the situation with regard to changing the aid to Ukraine.

"The lend-lease, relatively speaking, is a safeguard in case Biden fails to reach an agreement with Congress. But as long as the Congress itself supports Ukraine, we do not need to put the lend-lease into effect," Kraiev explained.

• Earlier, US President Biden noted that the US would continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary.

• On February 3, the Pentagon announced a new USD 2.2 billion defense aid package for Ukraine.

• On February 9, US President Joe Biden said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "has already lost Ukraine" and that assistance to Ukraine during the confrontation with Russia is open-ended.