Contributed to the victory over Hitler: what is the lend-lease program and how it will help Ukraine
On Wednesday, April 6, the United States Senate (the upper chamber of the United States Congress) unanimously approved Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022. This step is extremely important for our state in the conditions of a full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation.
This program has been realized during World War II and helped allied countries defeat Nazi Germany.
The document has yet to be considered and approved by the United States House of Representatives (the lower house of the United States Congress), after which it will be signed by Joe Biden, the President of the United States.
What do we know about the American lend-lease program and how it can help Ukraine in the war with Russia – read on.
Land Lease and World War II
During World War II, the United States handed over ammunition, military equipment, weapons, equipment, food, and oil to its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition as part of a lend-lease program.
The Lend-Lease Act was passed by the US Congress and signed by the 32nd US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in March 1941. It was in effect until September 20, 1945.
The official title of the document is the United States Mutual Defense Assistance Act.
– Under this law, the US government could, as quickly as possible, lend all the things needed (weapons, ammunition, equipment, etc.) to states whose defense during World War II was considered vital to the security of the United States itself.
Once the war was over, property transferred under a lease that was not used, destroyed or lost during hostilities and was suitable for civilian use was subject to return or compensation. The United States provided long-term credit for compensation.
In total, the lend-lease program then covered more than 40 countries. The largest supply was to the United Kingdom (over $ 30 billion). Later, the effect of the law extended to the USSR (before the end of the war, the Soviet Union received about $ 11 billion in aid from Washington).
– The lend-lease was generous. Thanks to it, Great Britain and other allies in the period 1941-1945 received mostly free goods and military equipment worth $50 billion at the rate of 1941 (equivalent to $690 billion in 2020). The lend-lease program has led to a great mobilization of the American economy to provide a huge amount of supplies and material resources needed for war…
American factories supplied tanks, artillery, warships and merchant ships in large quantities to ensure victory. Similarly, American farmers and oilmen supplied food and fuel to support Britain and its allies throughout the struggle, said Alan Riley, a lawyer and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, in his March column for the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
He drew parallels between the events of World War II and the full-scale war in Ukraine, emphasizing that the situations are very similar. Alan Riley explained that just as Britain became the “command post of the West” in the fight against Nazism in 1941, so Ukraine now holds a line of defense “against the march of global authoritarianism.
– The United States has recognized that if Britain falls, Hitler will not stop, and the security of the United States itself will be threatened. What was true then is true today. If Ukrainian democracy dies in the next few months, Putin will dare. His regime will be strengthened, and the next on his list may be Poland and the Baltic states… If Ukraine falls, the US security will be undermined in both Asia and Europe, – wrote Riley.
In this regard, the lawyer called on Washington to approve a similar lend-lease program for Ukraine. This is exactly what the US Senate did on April 6.
What did the US Senate support?
According to Politico, US senators have taken steps that once “helped defeat Hitler” and quickly replenish Allied military supplies in the fight against Nazi Germany.
The Lend-Lease program created during World War II is considered as a turning point in the conflict, as it allowed the United States to quickly replenish supplies of the Allies without cumbersome procedural obstacles, – the newspaper said.
The document supported by the US Senate is called the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act. It was introduced by a group of senators from the Democratic and Republican Parties.
The law will allow to provide critical military assistance to Ukraine more quickly and under a simplified procedure, without unreasonable red tape and payment (it is possible to pay the US later).
According to Politico, American lawmakers are resorting to such extraordinary tactics as the United States and its allies in Europe believe that the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine is an existential threat to the liberal order. In addition, it shows that the Western world believes in Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia.
Now the floor is for the US House of Representatives (there will be a meeting today followed by a two-week break).
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba reacted to the decision of the US Senate.
– I am grateful to the US Senate for passing a bill to protect Ukrainian democracy through the lend-lease. This is an important first step towards a lend-lease that will facilitate the supply of military equipment to Ukraine. We expect a quick adoption in the House of Representatives and the signature of the President of the United States, – said the Foreign Minister.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 7, 2022
How the Lend-Lease Program will help Ukraine: expert opinions
As Oleksandr Musiyenko, a political consultant and head of the Center for Military and Legal Studies, explained in a comment to ICTV Facts, the bill passed by the US Senate aims to speed up assistance to Ukraine.
The expert identified four benefits that this document will provide to our state:
1. It will reduce multi-fold the terms of providing military assistance to Ukraine.
– As you know, the supply of weapons has its own order, certain procedures, approvals, export controls and so on. This draft law is aimed at reducing the time interval between the decision-making, when funds are allocated for the financing of armaments, the coordination of the decision on the transfer of weapons and their actual transportation and transfer. Conventionally speaking, if an agreement used to take three or four days, now it will take a day, or it will be approved even faster, – said Oleksandr Musiyenko.
2. The lend-lease will provide an opportunity to expand the assistance that the United States provides to our country.
– Namely, it will allow to cross this conditional line which is in the West: weapons of lethal defense and weapons of offensive assault. All these barriers can actually be removed and become, so to speak, only conditional, – said Musiyenko.
3. In practice, assistance to Ukraine will be one of the priorities in the defense and security spheres for the United States.
4. In the future, Ukraine will be able to receive almost all the weapons it will request.
– This law provides a very important step in the sense that in the future Ukraine will receive almost all the weapons which it requests. Accordingly, it increases funding many times over for those defense and security programs under which we cooperate, – said Musiyenko.
The expert believes that such a step by Washington may indicate that Ukraine will be provided with offensive weapons.
– I hope so. At least this law is taking serious steps in this direction, in fact, even using the same terminology that was used during the Second World War, – said Musiyenko.
The expert also said that the US Congress will not delay the final adoption of the bill on the lend-lease, as it is one of the priority projects.
And military expert Oleh Zhdanov in a comment to ICTV Facts noted that the lend-lease program is a very significant support for Ukraine and it will open opportunities for our country to purchase any weapons with the help of the United States.
– What is a lend-lease? These are guarantees from the United States to the countries that will supply us with weapons, guarantees of payment or reimbursement of these supplies. They give guarantees – countries provide us with weapons. And with the United States we will probably then after the war decide how we will deal with them, – said the expert.
Oleh Zhdanov also believes that the lend-lease program will speed up the supply of offensive weapons to Ukraine.
– So. And if there is a lend-lease program, it will not be limited to NATO member countries. It will apply to all countries of the world where there are Soviet models of weapons (requested by Ukraine, – Ed.). And maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but if the United States agrees with India, we can get T-90 tanks that India bought in Russia. But today you can, for example, negotiate with Cyprus which received T-80 and BMP-3 tanks. These are the most modern examples of Russian weapons. And they can be delivered to us through the lend-lease, – the expert convinces.
Oleh Zhdanov explained that after the bill is approved by the House of Representatives and signed by the President Joe Biden, the US Treasury Department and the Pentagon will determine from whom and what they will buy for Ukraine. The expert says that these procedures can take several weeks.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Ukrainian History, Politico, US Congress, CEPA
