For now, Washington transfers military aid to Ukraine under other programs and does not use Lend-Lease to save the Ukrainian budget in the future. The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleh Nikolenko, said this in a comment to hromadske.

 He explains that the lend-lease mechanism consists in the fact that the US can transfer defense products to Ukraine for rent or on leasing terms.

 "The plus of this tool is the speed of decision-making by the US Administration regarding a simplified procedure without excessive bureaucracy and the need to vote for each package of aid to Ukraine in the US Congress. The minus is that the volume of supplies of American weapons within the framework of lend-lease directly depends on the financial capabilities of Ukraine," said Nikolenko . .

 According to him, at this stage of the war, the United States decides to provide military aid to Ukraine at the expense of its own federal budget. Because insufficient aid to Ukraine or its ineffectiveness "will have fatal consequences for the entire free democratic world."

 As Nikolenko notes, within the framework of the relevant US law on additional appropriations for the support of Ukraine, we currently receive security and defense assistance under three programs: Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Foreign Military Financing (FMF). and replenishment of US weapons stocks (Replenishment of US weapons stocks).

 Under these programs, military assistance is provided free of charge. That is, the current programs, unlike lend-lease, do not provide for compensation from Ukraine for the cost of provided weapons, military equipment and ammunition.

 "In addition to the bilateral dimension of assistance from the United States, the American side was the initiator of the creation of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine, in which 50 countries participate. Thanks to joint diplomatic efforts and the leading role of the United States, it was possible to mobilize the provision of weapons to Ukraine by NATO members and other partners worth 40 billions of dollars," Nikolenko reminds.

 Of these 40 billion, more than 19.3 billion dollars came from the USA. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, together with other government agencies, is working to obtain help from allies for better protection against air threats.