$33 bln package will help US shareholders more than Ukraine - Analysts
Biden's attempt to give more than $30 billion in additional aid for Ukraine will profit stockholders of key US weapons firms while having little influence on the battlefield.
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Analysts: $33 bln package will help US shareholders more than Ukraine
Analysts have told Sputnik that the Biden administration's bid to get more than $30 billion in new security and economic aid for Ukraine will profit stockholders of key US weapons firms while having little influence on the battlefield.
US President Joe Biden requested $33 billion in emergency additional funds for Ukraine on Thursday, including $20 billion for military aid. So far, the package appears to have received widespread bipartisan backing from US politicians.
The proposal comes in addition to the almost $4 billion in military aid previously promised by the Biden administration to Ukraine.
Read more: US arms stocks will run out due to Ukraine aid
Douglas Macgregor, a retired US Army Colonel, told Sputnik that the most "immediate impact will be to further enrich shareholders in US defense industries and the politicians who represent their interests in Washington, DC."
The former Trump administration Pentagon advisor warned the great bulk of the equipment and weaponry en route to Ukraine will have "at most" a minor impact on the combat in Eastern Ukraine.
He stated that Russia has knowledge of where the military equipment will be stored and how it will be shipped, and would probably destroy it, or it would "end up sitting in isolated warehouses hundreds of miles from the scene of the action."
Dan Lazare, a historian and political commentator, believes the $33 billion in aid is a sign the war is turning into an international conflict involving NATO and the US, something Moscow had repeatedly stressed.
"The more fuel Biden throws on the fire, the greater the likelihood of the war spreading beyond its original boundaries," Lazare said to Sputnik.
"If so, it's 1914 all over again - only this time with nukes. This is madness, needless to say," he added.
According to Lazare, 95% of the blame is on US Democrats who have been on an anti-Russia crusade for a decade.
"Years of Kremlin-bashing have finally led to a real-life European war that is raging out of control."
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, on his Telegram channel, that Washington's "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act" is an expensive credit scheme and by accepting it, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is pushing the country into a debt trap.
Volodin emphasized, "The lend-lease program is a supplier credit model, and not a cheap one at that because the future generations of Ukrainian citizens will have to pay for all the ammunition, equipment and food that the US will provide. Zelensky is pushing the country into a debt trap."
US loans largely entail corporate takeover of state institutions - this example has been seen in Egypt.
US Rep. describes Ukraine lend-lease act as "insane"
According to US Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, the statute authorizing the Biden administration to enter into lend-lease agreements for military equipment with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries allows for the transfer of nearly any weapon except nukes.
On Thursday, Massie Tweeted that the authorization was "insane."
