Americans raise concerns over how Putin’s war on Ukraine will impact US economy

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, March 07, 2022

As shelling of Ukrainian cities has intensified and oil prices are rising, a survey has found that most American adults fear that Russia’s war on Ukraine will have a negative impact on the U.S. economy.

When Rasmussen Reports asked American Adults how likely is it that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will hurt the American economy, only 14% said they don’t expect it to be bad for the U.S. economy and 12% weren’t sure, while 74% said it is likely, including 40% who think it’s “very likely.”

The national survey of 1,000 American adults conducted on March 1-2 also asked, “Is the economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine likely to last less than six months, six months to a year, or more than a year?” In response, 34% said they expect it to last six months to a year, 28% said “more than a year,” 20% said “less than six months,” and 19% weren’t sure.

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The telephone and online survey also found that more Republicans (48%) than Democrats (31%) or those not affiliated with either major party (42%) say it’s “very likely” the ongoing invasion will hurt the U.S. economy.

Similarly, fewer Democrats (22%) than Republicans (29%) or those unaffiliated (32%) think the impact could last more than a year.

According to an analysis published in The Wall Street Journal, consumer prices are likely to rise around the world as manufacturing costs for food, consumer goods and machinery are going up due to the war, which is impacting places far from the battlefield.

Last week, crude oil prices rose 25%, to more than $118 a barrel, which is the highest since 2013, it pointed out, adding that in the U.S., gas prices have gone up an average of 43.7 cents a gallon as per price tracker GasBuddy, which said the national average as of Sunday was $4.02 a gallon.

On Sunday, dozens of civilians were killed and evacuation efforts were disrupted as Russian forces intensified strikes across Ukraine to move toward the capital city of Kyiv and the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, the Journal reported, adding that Ukraine is now preparing for a second wave of Russian attacks which appears to be focused on major population centers around the country.

Russia plans to encircle Ukrainian forces and “create a situation of humanitarian disaster for the civilian population,” Ukraine’s national security adviser, Oleksiy Danilov, said in a social media post.

Russia has made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have become stalled, The Associated Press reported.

A humanitarian crisis is building in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian forces reportedly failed to observe an 11-hour ceasefire. “There can be no ‘green corridors’ because only the sick brain of the Russians decides when to start shooting and at whom,“ Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko was quoted as saying on Telegram.

A senior American defense official was quoted as saying Sunday that the U.S. assesses that about 95% of the Russian forces that were around Ukraine have entered the country.

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said Sunday the number of refugees leaving Ukraine was the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II as 1.5 million people had fled Ukraine in just 11 days, according to the AP.

As of Saturday, at least 351 civilians had been killed and another 707 wounded in Ukraine since Russia’s military invasion began on Feb. 24, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said, adding that the actual numbers are likely to be “considerably higher,” Reuters reported.

The Russian invasion has internally displaced about 4.3 million people in Ukraine, International Organization for Migration said Saturday.

In response to President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, more than 280 priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church are calling for reconciliation and an immediate end to Russia’s ongoing invasion, stressing that “the Last Judgement awaits all.”

“We mourn the ordeal to which our brothers and sisters in Ukraine were undeservedly subjected,” the Russian Orthodox clerics wrote in an open letter, which was launched Tuesday and had garnered signatures of 284 priests, archpriests and deacons by Sunday morning.

More than 400 ministers of Evangelical churches in Russia have also signed an open letter against “the invasion of sovereign Ukraine.”

“Our army is conducting full-scale military operations in another country, dropping bombs and rockets on the cities of our neighboring Ukraine. As believers, we assess what is happening as a grave sin of fratricide — the sin of Cain, who raised his hand against his brother Abel,” they wrote.