Invasion will hurt the US and Europe. Everyday Americans would feel the effects of an invasion in their bank accounts.

Gas prices could soar, writes CNN’s Matt Egan. “It’s impossible to say how high prices would go — and how long they would stay high. But $100 oil would surely lift prices at the pump. And that means a Russia-Ukraine conflict has the potential to impact most Americans.”

The status of Western democracies. There is something more than the economy, however. Biden has built his presidency around the idea that democratic countries must stand up to autocratic regimes.

As CNN’s Stephen Collinson smartly writes, Putin “is using Ukraine as a hostage to try to force the US to renegotiate the settled outcome of the Cold War.”