‘They didn’t deliver a single piece of weaponry to Ukraine’: the U.S. has concluded its lend-lease program for Ukraine, which was never utilized

As of October 1st, the Lend-Lease program for Ukraine has come to an end in the United States.

The Lend-Lease Act, which President Joe Biden signed on May 9th the previous year, was originally designed to last until the end of the 2023 fiscal year, which concluded on September 30th.

In Ukraine, this law was referred to as a “historic step,” and for a long time, news and analysis about it remained prominent in the media.

It was anticipated that the law would function similarly to the Lend-Lease program during World War II when the United States supplied its allies, including the USSR, with weaponry without prior payment and with extended payment deferments.

Technically, the law granted President Joe Biden the authority to provide Ukraine and other countries with weapons without the usual legal and commercial procedures.

However, in reality, the Lend-Lease program was never put into action because the United States was already supplying Ukraine with weapons without any payment or conditions, making it economically more advantageous for Kyiv than the Lend-Lease program. The White House explained the non-utilization of the Lend-Lease mechanism by Ukraine’s lack of necessity to ever pay for the provided armaments.

It’s worth noting that at the end of the previous year, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the United States had not delivered a single unit of weaponry to Ukraine under the Lend-Lease program.