2 yıl önce

Ukraine mortgaging itself to US: Russian parliament chief

"Many future generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay for all the ammunition, equipment and food that the United States will supply," said Russia's most senior lawmaker.

Reuters

Vyacheslav Volodin is the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Russia's parliament chief has accused Ukraine of effectively mortgaging itself to the United States by seeking to tap billions of dollars of weapons loans proposed by US President Joe Biden.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, accused the United States on Friday of seeking to profit from the conflict 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 Zelenskyy is driving the country into a debt pit," he added.

Biden on Thursday asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine, and the Ukrainian president pleaded with lawmakers to give the request a swift approval.

Supplying weapons on loan

Biden's move was a dramatic escalation of US funding for the conflict with Russia.

Biden's funding request includes over $20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military assistance.

It also calls for $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, the legislation will allow Biden to supply weapons to Ukraine on loan, The New York Times reported.