Will the lend lease law make a difference for Ukraine?

[ColinC]

Also interested in anybody with expert knowledge who can provide any insight on the issue.

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[captain queeg]

1. I believe it will help. Even Putin must have some understanding of how much it helped Russia during

WWII. They soviets certainly paid a high cost in blood but supplies by the US were pretty essential. Stuff that would be considered sort of high tech, like radios, high octane gasoline, copper wire, locomotives, and especially trucks allowed the soviets to pursue the Nazis. Stalin always downplayed it when talking to the west but I’ve read both he and Molotov were heard to say they might not have been able to crush the Nazis with out all the assistance. Not sure that was really the case but would have been much harder for them.

I had read while Stalin was pushing for the Western European invasion in 43 and was told it wouldn’t happen till 44 Molotov told one of our ambassadors that if the invasion would mean food supplies to Russia were cut it would be better to wait till 44. We supplied a great deal of food assistance to the soviets during the war. They were in such bad shape in regards to food supply losing the lend lease food supplies would have been catastrophic. Much of the weaponry and planes we supplied were very helpful but not critical. The trucks and locomotives allowed the soviets to keep pushing the German armies.

Not to forget that Britain also shipped a lot of stuff. Things that they themselves needed. Supplying lend lease to Ukraine might not be as critical as it was back then, but if the war drags on it will allow them to maintain the effort they have right now. A lot of stuff has essentially been given to Ukraine already but that will be hard to maintain if it drags on for months or years. I read recently that Britain paid off its lend lest bill from the US around 15 yrs ago. I was surprised. I sort of figured the US had written most of it off. I think a few other Western European countries had paid the US back. I highly doubt the USSR did so. Maybe payments were at the rate of 40s dollars, and no interest was charged.