An Update on Russia & Ukraine

☝️ Satellite images show the Russian convoy converging on Kyiv is now 40 miles long – up from 17 miles yesterday afternoon and around 3 miles the day before – though a senior US defense official said their advance on Ukraine’s capital city is currently stalled out amid food and fuel shortages.

🇺🇦 On the ground: Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s two largest cities – Kyiv and Kharkiv – with heavy shelling yesterday, mainly focused on civilian areas. Ukrainian officials said at least 22 civilians and 70+ soldiers were killed and hundreds more wounded as a result of Russian airstrikes.

• Ukraine’s central TV channels were temporarily disabled after the TV tower in its capital city was struck by a missile.
• The UN’s refugee agency said at least 677,000 Ukrainians have fled the country since last week.
• The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible Russian war crimes being committed in Ukraine, where the UN estimates 400+ civilians have been killed in the past six days.

How the invasion is impacting…

⛽️ Oil & Gas: Oil prices rose back up to $100+ per barrel yesterday to reach their highest level since 2014, while benchmark European natural-gas prices jumped more than 24%. The Biden administration released 30 million barrels of crude oil from the federal strategic reserve – enough to fuel all of America for less than two days – in an effort to drive down gas prices.

🍞 Food: Before trading even opened yesterday, US wheat futures rose 5.4%, hitting the exchange limit for how far up or down prices can rise; together Russia and Ukraine account for almost 30% of all global wheat exports. Prices are at their highest level since 2008.

📉 📈 Markets: The Moscow Exchange remained closed for a second straight day. In the US, all three major indexes had a rough day despite strong performances from energy companies and retailers. (Dow: -1.8% | S&P: -1.6% | Nasdaq: -1.6%)

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