US Answers Putin With New Lend-Lease Act

On the day Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a restrained Victory Day speech in Moscow, President Biden signed into law an updated version of the Lend-Lease program that helped the Allies—including the Soviet Union—defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. This time, Lend-Lease will be used against Russia. "Every day Ukrainians fight for their lives," Biden said at the signing ceremony Monday in the Oval Office, the New York Times reports. "The cost of the fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is even more costly."

The program will allow the US to send equipment and supplies to Ukraine more quickly to help it turn back the invasion. It gives Biden the ability to reach agreements with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries more quickly, per the Washington Post. "It's important to note that it's about time," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about the plan last month. "Time is very important when lives are at stake." Passage was a bipartisan effort; the vote in the Senate was unanimous. Biden's request for another extra $33 billion in aid for Ukraine is pending in Congress. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)