E-Paper
Revived by US for Ukraine, 'Lend Lease' act explained. It helped defeat Hitler
Amid the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine, the act will help those affected by Moscow's attack such as Poland and other eastern European countries as well as Ukraine.
Intending to easily export military equipment to Ukraine, which has entered its third month of conflict, the United States Congress has revived the "Lend-Lease” act that helped defeat German dictator Adolf Hitler during the Second World War.
A report by news agency Reuters said that the US Congress passed the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" by 417 to 10 on Thursday, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support.
The Act was cleared the same day when the country’s president Joe Biden asked the Congress to approve $33 billion for Ukraine, including over $20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military assistance.
The Act will now go to Biden to be signed into a law. "Today the Ukrainian people are standing on the front lines in the fight for democracy and against tyranny, and the US needs to provide them with every possible measure of humanitarian and military aid," Democratic Representative Mary Gay Scanlon said on Thursday as she urged support for the bill.
What is the Lend-Lease act?
> During World War II, the United States began providing significant military supplies and other assistance to its allies in September 1940, though it did not take part in the war until December 1941.
> According to the Office of the Historian, much of this aid was flown to the United Kingdom and other countries that were already at war with Germany and Japan through the program called Lend-Lease.
> Throughout World War II, the United States contracted the Lend-Lease agreements with over 30 countries, dispensing some $50 billion in assistance.
> Amid the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine, the act will help those affected by Moscow's attack such as Poland and other eastern European countries as well as Ukraine.
> The Act will also allow the United States government to provide equipment to Ukraine now, with just a technical requirement to pay at some later date, essentially giving it to President Volodymyr Zelensky's government.
