US to take in up to 100K Ukrainian refugees, sanction more Russian officials, defense companies

The U.S. will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others seeking to escape from Russia's invasion, and will impose new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies, the White House said.

According to senior administration officials, the Biden administration is looking into multiple methods for those fleeing Ukraine to enter the U.S., including the refugee admissions program, as well as parole and immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

The officials said that President Biden's cap of 125,000 refugees for Fiscal Year 2022 remains in effect, but that those who enter via processes other than the refugee program will not count toward that total. 

"We don't currently envision the need to go beyond that in terms of the portion of the individuals that would come in as refugees during this fiscal year," they said.

Officials also announced that the U.S. will be imposing sanctions on the Russian elite group known as the Duma and 300 of its members, as well as more than 40 Russian defense companies. As a backup measure, the European Union will also be imposing a sanctions evasion initiative to keep Russia from getting around the new U.S. sanctions. The EU initiative includes closing loopholes like the Russian Central Bank propping up their currency, and utilizing a coalition of countries to keep Russia from acquiring new technologies or from having other banks do business for them.