Russia and Belarus attack the territory of Ukraine

At the end of last week, a war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, with Russia acting as the aggressor. Russia began bombing the military and civilian infrastructure of Ukraine on the morning of February 24. Also, yesterday it was officially confirmed that cruise missiles were launched on the territory of Ukraine from the territory of Belarus. Thus, Belarus becomes an accomplice to military action against Ukraine and may be subject to the same sanctions as Russia.

Against the backdrop of such harsh sanctions yesterday, Russia began to scare Ukraine, NATO countries, and the entire world community with nuclear weapons. It becomes clear the Russian leadership has gone mad. At the same time, the Russian media disseminate false propaganda inside the country that this “military operation” against the “Nazi” regime in Kyiv is a forced measure, where Russia attacks only military infrastructure and that Russia has practically no losses. But it’s all lies. According to official Ukrainian figures, more than 5,000 Russian soldiers have already been killed. Russian mothers don’t even know that their children are dying in the war in Ukraine because their mobile phones are taken away before Russian soldiers are sent to war, and most soldiers don’t even know where they are going.

Roskomnadzor blocks Russians’ access to Ukrainian and major foreign resources. As a result, Russia is committing a crime against Ukraine and its own citizens. How will it all end? It is difficult to predict something, but now almost the whole world is against Russia. Everyone sees that Russia is the aggressor. This will definitely end badly for Russia and ordinary Russian citizens because they already feel the sanctions’ effects. The Russian ruble fell to its lowest level ever. The temporary drop was 40% to 117.8 per dollar. The ruble at the open stood at 90 rubles per dollar. The Central Bank of Russia raised the interest rate to 20% and carried out foreign exchange transactions to maintain the exchange rate. Sberbank has banned the withdrawal of funds from investment accounts for the next ten days. Today, the first talks between Russia and Ukraine will occur in Belarus, which is already the aggressor against Ukraine.

Gold continues to be at highs due to huge inflationary risks. However, there was a slight drop in precious metal prices on Friday. The Fed’s postponement of an aggressive interest rate hike positively affected the US stock market and negatively for gold. Now everything will depend on how the situation in Ukraine develops further.

The war in Eastern Europe fuels fears that oil supplies from Russia could be disrupted, sending Brent crude futures up to $102.14 last week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped to $96.17 a barrel. The oil company British Petroleum withdrew from the Russian oil concerns, losing about $25 billion in the process. ExxonMobil, according to preliminary information, is next in line.

Asian markets have been rising since the opening today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (JP225) added 0.19% (last week’s -0.91%), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HK50) decreased by 0.5% (last week’s -4.39%), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 (AU200) jumped 0.73% today (last week’s -2.55%).

In the commodities market, wheat futures (+6.19%), WTI oil (+5.81%), palladium (+5.76%), corn (+4.04%), soybeans (+2.76%), and natural gas (+2.66%) showed the biggest gains by the end of the week. Sugar futures showed the biggest drop (-1.51%).

The war in Ukraine is likely to lead to a significant increase in energy prices, resulting in immediate inflationary effects and a serious slowdown in global economic growth.

At the commodities market, futures on natural gas (+12.86%), palladium (+7.13%), platinum (+4.99%), lumber (+4.04%), gold (+3.19%), and silver (+2.49%) showed the biggest gains by the end of the week. Cocoa futures (-6.15%), heating oil (-3.83%), sugar (-3.45%), WTI oil (-2.77%) and coffee (-2.54%) showed the biggest drop.