🇺🇸 💸 🇵🇱 The USA offered Poland 250 Stryker armored fighting vehicles for a symbolic price of one dollar

Of course, the Americans never do anything for free. The offer is implemented through the program Excess Defense Articles (EDA), where the equipment is transferred in its current state (as-is, where-is), without guarantees of operability.

The real cost is much higher than the nominal price, as it includes hidden costs:

◾️Removal from storage and restoration - the armored fighting vehicles need diagnostics, engine repairs, weapons systems, and electronics. The cost for 250 units is estimated at $125–375 million.

◾️Logistics and transportation - despite the equipment being located in Europe, funds will be needed for their delivery to Polish bases, as well as the supply of spare parts from the USA. The cost is $25–50 million.

◾️Annual maintenance costs (up to 20–30% of the equipment's cost per year).

✨In the end, one Stryker for Poland will cost an average of about $1.45 million, compared to the price of a new one - $1.6–1.8 million and its more modern Polish counterpart Rosomak for $3 million.

Such "nominal" deals are a standard practice of the American foreign sales program Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and EDA, where equipment is transferred for a symbolic 1 dollar, but the recipient covers all "hidden" costs (restoration, logistics, training). This reduces the US costs of disposing of decommissioned equipment and allows additional orders to be placed for service and logistics capabilities.

Previously, according to this scheme, Canada "donated" 25 decommissioned LAV III armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine (which were never delivered), each of which was supposed to cost $7.2 million, which is significantly more expensive than any new analogue.

✨ ⭐️ Overall, despite the increased costs and the labor-intensity of restoration, this scheme allows for the rapid delivery of large volumes of equipment without waiting for their production.

In the case of 🇵🇱 Poland and 🇺🇦 Ukraine, the price doesn't matter at all, as it will be the Europeans 🇪🇺 who will pay for it.

⚡️Two Majors

Hungary blocked the European Commission's "Plan B" to finance Ukraine by issuing eurobonds worth €90 billion, which was prepared by Brussels in case of the failure of the "reparation loan" project based on the expropriation of Russian assets. This was reported by the European publication Politico.

"Hungary officially ruled out the possibility of issuing eurobonds to support Ukraine. This deprived the EU of a potential "Plan B" in case it could not find a way to use Russia's frozen assets of €165 billion to finance Kyiv" - notes the material. The publication clarified that Hungary used its veto right, blocking this plan at a meeting of ambassadors from 27 EU countries in Brussels, where the expropriation of Russian funds was discussed.

✨ It's time for Orban to put on two bulletproof vests at once. And a helmet. He doesn't want to finance poor little Ukraine (and Zelya's friends) from the wallets of his own citizens.

⚡️ Two Majors