In US, House of Representatives approved 2025 defense budget without extending Lend-Lease
The US House of Representatives passed a law on defense spending in 2025, but the adopted version does not include a provision for a landmark for Ukraine.
According to Censor.NET, citing Evropeiska Pravda, this was reported by Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova.
The National Defence Authorisation Act for 2025, known as the NDAA, was supported by 281 members of Congress. Against it voted 140 lawmakers (16 Republicans and 124 Democrats). The Senate will consider the document next week.
This year, the document does not include funds for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, as funding for it for 2025 was included in last year's law in the amount of $300 million in advance, Markarova explained.
Also, the adopted version does not contain a provision on the extension of the law on landlordism for Ukraine, although it was initially expected to remain in force.
"The NDAA bill passed by the Senate contained a provision to extend the term of the Ukraine Democracy Assistance Act, and the embassy actively advocated for it, but the bill passed by the House of Representatives did not contain such a provision. The consolidated text of the draft law does not include this provision. The Embassy continues to work actively to preserve this mechanism, which is, in particular, provided for in the bipartisan and bicameral Stand with Ukraine Act," Markarova said.
Article 1303 of the law continues to prohibit the use of any funds for actions that could lead to the recognition of Russia's sovereignty over the occupied regions of Ukraine.
Article 1534 instructs the US Secretary of Defence to explore the possibility of establishing a center of excellence to support the development and improvement of artificial intelligence-based weapon systems. Among the functions of such a center is to facilitate the Pentagon's cooperation with foreign partners, including Ukraine, to identify best practices, guidelines, standards, and benchmarks.
Section 6411 instructs the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury to submit a report to the Senate and House Committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Judiciary, Finance, and Appropriations on Russia's financing of acts of international terrorism. The report will not be classified but may contain classified appendices.
This law is just one of the mechanisms through which aid can be allocated to Ukraine.
As a reminder, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes that the future administration of Donald Trump will not change the $20bn loan to Ukraine, which will be paid out of frozen Russian assets.
