The USA plans to replicate a similar programme to the one used to help the Allied Forces, including the USSR, to defeat Germany’s Third Reich, to help Ukraine defeat Russia.
The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act must be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Joe Biden. The U.S. Senate passed legislation of this type for the first time since World War II. It will allow Kyiv to receive weapons and equipment under an accelerated programme. During World War 2, lend-lease was approved to help the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, including the USSR.
As the war unfolds in Ukraine, the speedy delivery of military aid is critical to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian aggression. The Kremlin is carrying out unspeakable attacks across Ukraine on civilian infrastructure, aiming to destroy the Ukrainian people. Every minute matters in the urgency to adopt the Act.
Russian aggression against Ukraine is an existential threat to the global liberal order. In addition to the war against Ukraine, Putin’s main task now is to expand the boundaries of what he can get away with. For the sake of world peace it is necessary that Putin suffers a “strategic failure.”
The victory of the Ukrainian Army is likely to lead to the swift collapse of Putin’s regime. But this victory can only be achieved if Western democracies provide full enhanced military support to Kyiv. Russia’s military aggression may develop in a way that nobody can forecast. But more Western involvement in military support for Ukraine may ensure that Russia loses the war.
Putin will celebrate his victory over Ukraine and the West even if he manages to completely capture Donbass and southern Ukraine. The victory of Ukraine and the entire civilized world will come with the liberation of Donbas and Crimea and reparation payments by Russia for the losses that Ukraine has suffered in the war.
Putin’s perception of the United States and its allies as nations that are militarily weak or unwilling to fight gave him confidence to invade Ukraine. The entire deterrence strategy was based on the idea that the threat of limited sanctions could hold Putin back. Western attempts to appease Putin have demonstrably failed, as did attempts to appease Hitler before World War 2.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has gained renewed confidence, fuelled in part by the robust performance of the Ukrainian Army which has inflicted major casualties on Russia on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian forces have repulsed the advance of Russian invaders, who have been shelling Ukrainian cities for the second month already. The Lend-Lease programme, designed during World War 2, might just provide a decisive watershed for the end of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
