But this week, Mr Khan wrote to Mr Klitschko to say he would not allow the proposal because it did not meet the “legal threshold” that requires the Ulez scrappage scheme to benefit Londoners from an “economic, social and environmental perspective”.
Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, criticised Mr Khan’s decision, telling The Telegraph: “Sadiq Khan’s refusal to send scrapped Ulez cars to Ukraine, citing a legal quirk, is absurd.
“Londoners who choose to scrap their cars should have the freedom to decide for themselves if they want their car sent to support Ukraine.
“Standing with Ukraine against tyrants like Putin is not only a moral imperative but also in the best interest of all Londoners and the global community.”
Sources close to Ms Hall said that if she became mayor she would seek to change the law so that Ukraine could receive the vehicles.
Richard Lofthouse, who works with Car for Ukraine, a volunteer initiative that delivers 4x4s and trucks to the front line, said Mr Khan had shown a “lack of political courage”.
“Presumably it’s no bad thing and no ‘disbenefit’ for Londoners to actually show solidarity with another free state fighting tyranny, rather than only line the greedy pockets of private scrapyard merchants who are receiving thousands of perfectly good cars as the result of the scrappage scheme subsidy,” he said.
The unpopularity of Ulez – which Labour blamed for its failure to win the Uxbridge by-election earlier this year – is thought to have led to Mr Khan expanding the scrappage scheme.