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Biden on Thursday asked Congress for $33 billion to support
Ukraine - a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for the war with
Russia - and the Ukrainian president pleaded with lawmakers to
give the request a swift approval.
Vyacheslav Volodin, who as the speaker of the lower house of the
Russian parliament often voices the Kremlin's views, accused the
United States of seeking to profit from the war while indebting
future generations of Ukrainians.
"Lend-Lease is a commodity loan, and not cheap: many future
generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay for all the
ammunition, equipment and food that the United States will
supply," Volodin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr "Zelenskiy is driving the country
into a debt pit," he added.
Biden's funding request includes over $20 billion for weapons,
ammunition and other military assistance, as well as $8.5
billion in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian
government and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
Congress on Thursday passed legislation that invokes the
Lend-Lease Act of 1941, originally proposed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to help arm British forces battling Nazi
Germany, to allow Biden to supply weapons to Ukraine on loan,
The New York Times reported.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
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