How Russia's war on Ukraine can impact the US

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. It marked one of the largest military conflicts in Europe in recent memory. The war also put US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies on alert and had an immediate effect on the world economy.

The US is feeling the impact of the conflict in a variety of ways. It deployed thousands of troops to Europe and sent additional financial aid to Ukraine. The US also imposed a wide range of sanctions on Russia, most recently banning Russian oil and gas imports. And more than a million people of Ukrainian descent that live in the US have a potential personal tie to the war.

How many US troops are in Ukraine?

The US has no troops in Ukraine as of March 7, 2022.

According to the Defense Department, more than 12,000 US troops were deployed to a US military base in Germany on Feb. 24.

NATO activated its response force in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the activated troops are not participating directly in the conflict. Since Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the troops are on alert in case of a Russian attack on a NATO member.

About 2,000 US troops in Europe moved to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania to support the NATO response force.

Between 80,000 and 90,000 US service members currently operate in Europe depending on different estimates from the Defense Department. The current US troop level is about a 23% increase from September 2021, according to Defense Department data.

Has the US sent any additional foreign aid to Ukraine?

The US promised $679.9 million in foreign assistance to Ukraine in fiscal year 2020, the most in a single year since 1994. Ukraine received more than a billion dollars in security aid in the last year, according to a Feb. 26 statement from Sec. Of State Antony Blinken. On March 10, 2022, the US announced it would send nearly $53 million in additional humanitarian aid to the country.

How many Ukrainian Americans live in the US?

As of 2019, about a million people said they had Ukrainian ancestry, according to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

People of Ukrainian ancestry were 0.8% of Pennsylvania's population, the highest in the country.

The Department of Homeland Security's Yearbook of Immigration Statistics details how many Ukrainians have immigrated to the US as of 2019.

From 2010 to 2019, the US accepted 17,310 refugees from Ukraine. It was the tenth most common country of origin for refugees in the US during that time. The vast majority (89%) of Ukrainian refugees to the US came after the 2014 Russian invasion of the Crimean region. Ukrainian refugees were just under 3% of all refugees from 2010 to 2019.

About 8,000 people born in Ukraine became American citizens in 2019, 1% of all naturalizations that year. The number of Ukrainians becoming American citizens rose 21% since 2017.

In 2019, about 11,500 Ukrainians received lawful permanent resident status, otherwise known as a green card. Ukrainians were about 1% of all green card recipients.

There were almost 130,000 Ukrainian visa admissions into the US in 2019. More than three-quarters of those admissions were for tourism or business purposes. Ukrainians were 0.2% of visa admissions.

What impact will the Russian invasion of Ukraine have on US trade?

According to data from the Commerce Department, the combined value of US trade between both Russia and Ukraine totals more than $40 billion in goods, most of which is from Russia as of 2021. Combined US trade from Russia and Ukraine was slightly less than 1% of US global trade. By comparison, Canada is the largest goods trade partner for the US, with about $665 billion for the same year, or about 14.5% of US global trade.

As of 2021, Russia and the US traded about $36 billion in goods between the two countries. Russia is the US' 25th largest trade partner.

The US imported $29.6 billion in goods from Russia in 2021. Russia shipped $17.6 billion in mineral fuels that year. It’s the largest category of Russian exports to the US. Mineral fuel is a broad category of products and can include coal, petroleum, or natural gas. Russian mineral fuel imports are about 8% of all mineral fuel imports to the US. On March 8, the US banned imports of Russian oil, liquified natural gas, and coal.

According to a US Energy Information Agency report, Russia was the third-largest petroleum producer, behind the US and Saudi Arabia, in 2020. A "significant" percentage of European oil and gas imports come from Russia.

In 2021, Ukraine and the US traded about $4.4 billion in goods. Ukraine was the 65th largest goods trading partner for the US.

The US imported $1.9 billion in goods from Ukraine in 2021. Ukraine shipped $1.1 billion in iron and steel and $96 million in electronics machinery that year, the two largest categories of Ukrainian exports to the US.

Agriculture is Ukraine's largest export industry, worth 17% of the country's gross domestic product, but it's not a major factor in trade with the US. According to a US Energy Information Agency report, the country lost 80% of its oil and natural gas deposits and a large amount of its port infrastructure when Russia seized the Crimea region in 2014.

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