As the Russian invasion enters a second day, Ukrainian forces are preparing to defend the capital, Kyiv, from advancing troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russians were targeting civilian areas, and announced that 137 Ukrainians had been killed and 316 wounded. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have fled their homes. Supply concerns pushed global crude oil prices over $100 a barrel on Thursday, for the first time since 2014. In Europe, gas prices surged more than 40 percent as Russia supplies a third of Europe’s gas. To stop the rising prices, President Joe Biden has suggested the US may release oil from its strategic reserve. In announcing the larger sanctions yesterday, President Biden explained that they are designed to spare the Russian energy sector, including oil giants like Rosneft. “Over the last month,” Jade Begay, climate justice campaign director for NDN Collective told Indian Country News, “fossil fuels have been at the center of how nations are holding leverage against one another, point and case, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. This should be a clear signal to our leaders that we need a Just Transition & Green New Deal now, so that we are liberated from this toxic dependency on oil [and] gas.” (The Hill, Axios, CNN, NPR, Indian Country Today, Reuters. Sanctions: Politico, Bloomberg, Axios. Commentary: Reuters, Neil Unmack breakingviews column; Guardian, Fiona Harvey explainer; Bloomberg, Gernot Wagner column $)
