The US House of Representatives passed a bill on defense spending for 2025, but the final version of the document does not include a provision on lend-lease for Ukraine. This was reported by the Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA, Oksana Markarova.
The National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA) for 2025 was supported by 281 congressmen, while 140 opposed it (including 16 Republicans and 124 Democrats). The Senate plans to consider this bill next week.
As Markarova explained, this year’s draft law does not provide for additional funds for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, as funding for 2025 was included in advance in last year’s law in the amount of $300 million. In addition, the adopted version lacks a provision on the extension of the Lend-Lease Law for Ukraine, although it was previously expected to be included in the document.
“The NDAA bill approved by the Senate contained a provision to extend the validity of the Lend-Lease Law for the Protection of Democracy in Ukraine, and the embassy actively advocated for it, but the bill approved by the House of Representatives did not contain such a provision. The corresponding provision is not included in the consolidated text of the bill.” , Oksana Markarova said.
