HUDSON INSTITUTE
WHY A UKRAINIAN VICTORY MATTERS TO AMERICANS
1
POLICY BRIEF
Why a Ukrainian Victory
Matters to Americans
LUKE COFFEY AND PETER ROUGH
Senior Fellows, Hudson Institute
July 2023
Ukraine Aid is a Good Investment for the US
The United States has given Ukraine $43.7 billion in military
assistance since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. This is
about 5 percent of America’s scal year 2023 defense budget, or
less than two-tenths of 1 percent of its gross domestic product.
• Ukraine is degrading one of America’s two major
adversaries. Ukraine has destroyed more than 11,350
pieces of Russian military equipment, including 2,164 main
battle tanks, 2,566 infantry ghting vehicles, more than
500 pieces of towed artillery and multiple rocket launchers,
84 aircraft, 99 helicopters, and 12 naval ships—all without
shedding a single drop of US blood.
• President Zelensky: “Ukraine never asked American
soldiers to ght on our land instead of us.”
Ukraine Matters to the US Economy
In 2021, Europe accounted for $3.19 trillion of foreign capital
investment in the US (out of a total of $4.98 trillion). In
2022, 45 out of 50 states—including the largest single-state
economy, California—exported more goods to Europe than
to China.
• Ukraine shapes global commodities markets. Ukraine
ranks in the top ten in the production of corn, wheat,
barley, sunower, sunower oil, sunower meal, and
canola. It has reserves of 117 of the 120 most widely used
minerals and metals in the world, including titanium, iron,
lithium, coal, and other energy deposits. At present, Russia
occupies Ukrainian territory containing at least $12.4 trillion
worth of raw materials.
Weakening Russia Hurts China
China sees Russia as its stalking horse. Xi Jinping and Vladimir
Putin signed a “no-limits partnership” 20 days before Russia’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine and have met 40 times as heads
of state. Xi says that Putin is his “best, most intimate friend.”
• Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida: “The security
of the Indo-Pacic region cannot be separated from
European security.”
• Taiwanese Representative to the US Bi-khim Hsiao: “I
think pushing back on aggression is the key message that
will help to deter any consideration or miscalculation that an
invasion can be conducted unpunished, without costs, in a
