Fourteen facts about U.S. aid to Ukraine

Luke Coffey

Since Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time in eight years, Russian troops have ravaged Ukrainian cities, raped women, and kidnapped children. Russian missiles and Iranian drones strike Ukrainian cities daily, often hitting civilian targets. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim. For Americans who believe in respect for national borders, the supremacy of national sovereignty and the right to self-defence, supporting Ukraine is natural. Ukrainians do not ask or want American troops to help them fight Russia. All they ask for are the resources necessary to give them a fighting chance. Meanwhile, Russia is one of America’s main geopolitical adversaries. As former Secretary of State and Hudson University Distinguished Fellow Mike Pompeo said last week, a Russian victory “would be felt far beyond Ukraine’s borders, including by strengthening the alliance of Russia, China and Iran, which is aimed at weakening the United States and our allies around the world.” While Congress debates additional support for Ukraine, detractors will spread false and misleading information. It is important to understand the facts. Fact: The U.S. is not writing Ukraine “carte blanche” and most of the money allocated to help Ukraine never leaves the United States.

  • Every dollar spent to support Ukraine is authorised by Congress and used for a specific purpose. There has never been “carte blanche” on Ukraine.
  • Approximately $70 billion of aid earmarked for Ukraine will never leave the US. Instead, it supports our world-leading defence industry and creates well-paying jobs in 38 states.
  • After seeing the effectiveness of U.S. military equipment in Ukraine, European countries alone have placed $90 billion in orders for U.S. military equipment. This makes America safer and creates good-paying jobs for Americans. Fact: For a relatively modest amount of money, U.S. aid is helping Ukraine dismantle Russia’s armed forces without firing a single shot or shelling.
  • Russia is a major geopolitical adversary of the United States and a close ally of China, Iran and North Korea.
  • Estimates vary, but as many as 300,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The original Russian invasion force has effectively ceased to exist since February 2022.
  • Open source journalists have gathered visual evidence that Russia has lost more than 12,900 pieces of equipment in Ukraine by the time of this writing. Since this number is limited to visually confirmed losses, the actual number is likely much higher.
  • These losses include: 2,439 main battle tanks, 1,026 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,977 infantry fighting vehicles, 368 armoured personnel carriers, 914 pieces of artillery, 201 multiple rocket launchers, 93 aircraft (including three strategic bombers), 132 helicopters and probably thousands of pieces of other military equipment.
  • Ukraine has destroyed or damaged 16 ships and submarines, including the missile cruiser Moskva (formerly the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet) and the submarine Rostov-on-Don. Their destruction supports broader U.S. security objectives beyond the Black Sea. For example, Russia used both ships to support Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Fact: There has never been greater accountability for U.S. military assistance than for aid to Ukraine.
  • Shortly after the Russian invasion, the U.S. government set up the Interagency Task Force to oversee Ukraine. More than 160 officials in 20 federal oversight agencies oversee U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
  • To date, Congress has appropriated $50 million to the Inspectors General of the Department of Defence, Department of State and USAID to strengthen oversight through the working group.
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    IV Concluding part

    • Some have suggested as a compromise with those who do not want to provide any assistance to Ukraine. However, this proposal is a half-measure and will lead to disappointing results.
    • The Ukrainian military is not the only player defending itself against Russia. As Russia’s indiscriminate firing of ballistic missiles and Iranian drones at civilians has shown, the entire Ukrainian society is at war.
    • The first year of Russia’s invasion destroyed nearly 30 per cent of Ukraine’s economy. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian government and essential public services (law enforcement and first responders, diplomats, utility workers, etc.) must function properly if the country is to remain in a state of total war.
    • U.S. support must be wide-ranging. Those who call for U.S. military support only fail to see the bigger picture in Ukraine. Fact: Claims that U.S. aid to Ukraine cost “$900 per American family” and that the recently proposed aid package would add “more than $1,000” to the tax burden of “every family of four in America” are misleading.
    • These figures are often used to mislead Americans into thinking they are placing an unnecessary financial burden on their shoulders to help Ukraine amid economic hardship and high inflation at home.
    • The numbers are misleading because federal income taxes are not levied evenly among households.
    • In 2020, the most recent year for which data are available, the top 1 per cent of earners paid 42.3 per cent of all federal income tax. The bottom 50 percent of taxpayers (those earning $42,184 or less) paid only 2.3 percent of all federal income tax.
    • Approximately 60 million tax returns reported income of $30,000 or less. The effective average tax rate for this group was 1.5 per cent before any tax credits were applied.