Yesterday 28 April, the United States passed a law allowing the Biden administration to launch a large-scale lend-lease program with the aim of economic and military assistance to Ukraine. The money for its financing will be allocated from the country's budget and the arrested accounts of Russian oligarchs. Read today in USA.ONE magazine:
What is lend-lease and how it will help Ukraine win
And where will $33 billion be spent?
lend-lease 
The White House's $33 billion request includes $20 billion for arms and military needs, $8.5 billion for direct economic aid to Kyiv, and another $3 for humanitarian aid and food supplies. This money should be enough for Ukraine until September. According to US President Joe Biden, the cost of fighting against Russia is not cheap, but giving in to it will cost even more.
"We will either support the people of Ukraine defending their country, or we will stand by and watch the Russians continue their aggression and atrocities in Ukraine" he said.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi also made a statement, calling the war in Ukraine a battle between democracy and autocracy, and echoing Roosevelt's call for Americans to provide fuel to keep the light of democracy burning.
"Our task today is still the same. Ukrainians are fighting for us all," she said.
Lend-lease involves the supply of military equipment on lease to the allies. The United States approved this program for the first time after helping Europe defeat Hitler in World War II. The corresponding law was adopted in the US Congress by 417 votes "for" and 10 "against". The President only has to sign the document, after which his administration will independently decide what and to what extent to provide the Ukrainian government and the army.
The Lend-Lease program will reduce the amount of bureaucracy in the way of providing aid and speed up deliveries to Kyiv. Republican Senator John Cornyn also commented on the adoption of the law. In his opinion, the Ukrainian army has shown incredible courage and courage, so the United States should serve as an arsenal of democracy and ensure that Ukraine has the necessary set of resources to protect sovereignty.
In particular, from American warehouses, Kiev will receive M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, M109A6 Paladin 155-mm self-propelled howitzers, third-generation Abrams tanks, fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets and HIMARS wheeled multiple rocket launchers. Lend-lease will be valid until the end of the war in Ukraine. In the future, Kyiv will need to return or compensate for those supplies that will be lost on the battlefield.
In order for Ukraine to be able to pay for lend-lease, America plans to transfer frozen Russian assets to its ownership. The corresponding bill was approved by over 400 US congressmen on Wednesday, April 27. They decided to confiscate in favor of Ukraine the planes, yachts and villas of Russian oligarchs worth more than $2 million, which were previously sanctioned due to their involvement in Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.
The White House said that US authorities have already seized and blocked the private property of Russian billionaires, the total value of which exceeds a billion dollars. More than 30 billion Russian assets have been frozen in the EU countries, 7 of which are helicopters, real estate, ships and art. At the request of the United States, the Spanish authorities alone confiscated a 78-meter yacht worth $90 million from billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.
At the start of the war, Putin's loss seemed unlikely to many. Western experts considered the Russian army powerful, modernized and much more funded than the Ukrainian one. American economist Paul Krugman said that Ukraine's long-term prospects were in doubt. The Russian economy was 8 times larger and this gap is only increasing. Despite the sanctions, production in Russia suffered less damage than that destroyed as a result of the war in Ukraine. Many expected that Putin would benefit from a superior resource base.
However, this is not what the US is seeing now. Officials spoke with optimism about Ukraine's victory. According to Krugman, Britain was in the same situation in 1940. She was able to defeat an enemy that seemed invincible. British aircraft rebuffed the German Luftwaffe. Seeing this, US President Franklin Roosevelt passed a Lend-Lease Act to provide the occupied British with large quantities of weapons, fuel and food. He helped in the future to defeat Hitler.
"Lend-Lease was revived, large-scale military supplies will flow to Ukraine not only from the United States, but also from the allies. This assistance will work sharply against Putin. The economy of the Russian Federation, although larger than the Ukrainian one, is smaller compared to the American one, as well as the economies of the allied countries of the West, & # 34; — Paul Krugman shared his opinion.
Ukraine's victory will be a triumph for the whole world. War criminals and aggressors from Russia will lay low for a long time. Not only Ukrainians, but also many leaders of Western countries will be able to attribute victory over Putin to themselves. The leaders of Poland, the Baltic States, the US and the UK helping Kiev weather this crisis could go down in the history books as "brave and effective freedom fighters", Krugman believes.
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