A note in Lisa Daftari's The Foreign Desk newsletter reads of the latest on the Ukraine war and Washington efforts: "$54 Billion Dollars… and Russia Controls an Area the Size of Mississippi". In terms of geography and land mass, this represents about one-fifth of Ukraine.
Much of the Donbas region and the south is effectively under Russian military control, also as on Monday President Vladimir Putin signed a decree easing rules for residents of Donbas and some parts of occupied Ukraine, making it easier for the local population to acquire Russian citizenship, according to state RIA.
For those in North America trying to grasp the size of Ukraine.
— Alexander Lanoszka (@ALanoszka) February 13, 2022
Wikimedia: https://t.co/aWXeWExTO1 pic.twitter.com/BO8MPni9Nu
Additionally the Kharkiv region, which contains Ukraine's second largest city by the same name, is in the last days coming under intensified Russian artillery bombardment. Bordering Russia to its North, and Russian-controlled Luhansk on its East, a slew of Western media reports are warning Kharkiv oblast is likely the next major region to be annexed by Russia.
Related to this, the UK's Ministry of Defense has warned in an intelligence briefing that "Control of the E40, which links Donetsk to Kharkiv, is likely to be an important objective for Russia as it attempts to advance through Donetsk Oblast."
As for the massive amount of US taxpayer money already poured into Ukraine since the conflict, as well as what's been pledged in total, Fox News has tallied based on the US government's own figures the following:
The Pentagon on Friday confirmed that the U.S. has...