For quick weapon deliveries
Biden signs World War II legislation
05/09/2022 11:04 p.m
As in 1941, the USA want to support the countries of Europe massively with weapons so that they can defend themselves against an aggressor. In 2022, however, it will be called Russia. US President Biden signs the new version of the lend-lease law on a historic date.
US President Joe Biden has signed a law facilitating the delivery of armaments to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. The law is based on a World War II-era program in the fight against Nazi Germany. The US would support Ukraine’s fight to “defend their country and their democracy against Putin’s brutal war,” said Biden. “The cost of fighting is not small. But yielding to aggression is even more expensive.”
The bill passed the US Congress with a broad, bipartisan majority. The US President will thus be authorized until 2023 to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe affected by the Russian war of aggression. Certain formal requirements in the procedure are to be suspended. The US Congress had passed a similar lend-lease law in 1941 during the Second World War: This allowed America to quickly and in bulk deliver armaments to the Allies fighting the National Socialists.
The US is now arming Ukraine on a large scale to support the country against Russia. Military support of around four billion dollars (around 3.8 billion euros) has already been promised to Ukraine. Biden signed the new law into law just as Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected a military parade marking Victory Day over Nazi Germany in Moscow. Putin again drew parallels between the fight against Nazi Germany and the current military operation in Ukraine. The Kremlin chief also said Russia must defend itself against an “unacceptable threat” posed by its western-backed neighbor.
USA: Russian account “completely absurd”
The US government firmly rejected this account. To describe the invasion of Ukraine “as a defensive action is completely absurd,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price. “It is an insult to those who lost their lives and to those who fell victim to this senseless oppression.” The federal government had also rejected Putin’s statements.
The Ukraine war will also be the subject of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Schleswig-Holstein from Thursday to Saturday and an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin on Saturday and Sunday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who fell ill with Corona last week, will be represented at the G7 meeting by Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, ministry spokesman Price said. However, Blinken hopes to be able to take part in the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Berlin if he has recovered by then.