Ukraine's foreign ministry names reason for not receiving weapons under Lend-Lease

The spokesman of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleh Nikolenko, said this in a comment to Hromadske. 

He notes that the United States, within the framework of Lend-Lease, can supply Ukraine with the weapons they have on leasing or rent.  The advantage of this approach is that the US Congress will not have to pass each military aid package separately. However, there are also disadvantages.

“The shortcoming is that the volume of supplies of American weapons within the limits of Lend-Lease directly depends on the financial capabilities of Ukraine,” Nikolenko explained. 

He says that the US currently provides military aid to Ukraine at the expense of its own federal budget. They made such a decision because the ineffectiveness or lack of aid “would have fatal consequences for the entire free democratic world.”

Thus, according to the US law on additional appropriations for the support of Ukraine, Ukrainians receive assistance under three programs:

• Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI);

• Foreign Military Financing (FMF);

• Replenishment of US weapons stocks. 

These programs provide military assistance free of charge. Thus, Ukraine will not have to reimburse the cost of the provided weapons, military equipment and munitions. In the case of the Lend-Lease, this will have to be done.

“In addition to the bilateral measure of aid from the US, the American side was the initiator of the creation of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine, in which 50 countries currently participate,” Nikolenko said. 

He also reminded that thanks to diplomatic efforts and the help of the USA, it was possible to mobilize the provision of weapons worth USD 40 billion from NATO and other partner countries to Ukraine. More than USD 19 billion of the provided aid came from the USA.

Nikolenko also noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently working on obtaining assistance from partner countries for better protection of Ukraine's airspace.