WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2022) US President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law legislation allowing lend-lease deals for military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries to enhance weapons transfers amid Russia military's special operation.
Biden signed the Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into US law, White House press assistant Angela Perez said. The act was passed unanimously by the Senate and in a vote of 417-10 in the House of Representatives back in April.
The lend-lease deals harken back to the famous Second World War-era policy of US President Franklin Roosevelt, which supplied Allied nations including the Soviet Union with weaponry and other materials. The move was considered an effective end of US neutrality in the war and a step toward open support for the Allies.
The legislation comes amid a number of other efforts by Congress and the Biden administration to support Ukraine, including a new $33 billion request from Biden to Congress for military, economic and humanitarian support for Kiev.
US lawmaker Thomas Massie, one of the few members of Congress to vote against the legislation, warned following its passage that the bill allows the transfer of "virtually any weapon of war" other than nuclear arms.
Massie in the tweet pointed toward the definition of "defensive article" used in the legislation, which includes all weapons systems, munitions, aircraft, vessels or other implements of war with the exception of nuclear arms.
