Political scientist points out negative consequences for Ukraine in case of US withdrawal from lend-lease

U.S. Lend-Lease for Ukraine is one of the options for aid to Kiev, which allows it to be transferred with less bureaucracy. The loss of such a mechanism will be unpleasant for the Kiev regime. Andrei Kortunov, an expert of the Valdai Club and research director of the Russian International Affairs Council, said this in a conversation with Izvestia on December 12.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, said that the US House of Representatives had excluded lend-lease for Ukraine from the draft military budget for 2025. She noted that the Ukrainian side actively advocated for the extension of the lend-lease law.

"Lend-lease is a kind of insurance mechanism, which allows to provide assistance, bypassing the legislature. If the U.S. gives it up, it will so reduce the flexibility of possible aid options that remain at the disposal of the president, the Pentagon and the executive branch as a whole," Kortunov commented.

According to him, the key advantage of this instrument is that decisions within its framework can be made faster.

Discussing the reasons for such a move, the interlocutor of the publication noted that the foreign policy factor plays its role - the Republicans are preparing to gain more power after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in January.

However, the political scientist believes that in this case, to a greater extent, the issue of internal political struggle between the Republican Party and the Democrats has had an impact - the latter have felt that their positions have shaken and would like to tie the hands of the next - mainly Republican - composition of the Congress. At the same time, the expert emphasized, the process of agreeing on the budget may be very long.

The Lend-Lease Act for Ukraine, which allows accelerated arms transfers to Kiev, was passed in May 2022. Now the US House of Representatives has excluded it from the draft military budget for 2025 - the final decision will depend on the Senate.

In July this year, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump may during his term develop a program to loan or lease U.S. arms, ammunition, strategic raw materials, food for Ukraine for $500 billion.

Later, on December 8, Trump said that after the change of the US administration, Washington would probably reduce the volume of military aid to Kiev.