Today’s Russia/Ukraine Update

🇺🇦 Congress overwhelmingly passed a pair of resolutions yesterday suspending Russia's preferential trade status and banning all energy imports from the country. The Senate voted 100-0 in favor of both; President Biden is expected to sign them into law soon.

• The UN voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council yesterday; it’s the first time a permanent Security Council member has had its membership revoked from any UN body.
• More than 4.3 million Ukrainians have fled the country, per the UN, with over 2.5 million of them ending up in Poland; another ~6.5 million people have been displaced from their homes but remain inside the country.
• The mayor of the southern city of Mariupol said he believes at least 5,000 civilians have been killed there since the start of Russia's invasion.

🛢️⛽ Oil & Gas: US allies are planning to release 60 million additional barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, in addition to a previous US commitment to release 180 million barrels over the next six months.

• Shell projected an up to $5 billion loss in Q1 related to its decision to exit operations in Russia.
• Global crude prices have fallen 5+% over the past two days, and briefly dipped below $100 per barrel yesterday for the first time in three weeks.
• The average price for a gallon of gas in the US is $4.15 – down seven cents from a week ago, but still nine cents more than a month ago.