Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Putin plows ahead

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heads toward the two-week mark, the stakes look set to rise — with potentially catastrophic implications for Ukrainians and their defense. Despite Russia’s status as the most-sanctioned nation in the world, President Vladimir Putin said the war will continue until Ukraine accepts his demands and halts resistance, dimming hopes for a negotiated settlement. Fresh talks Monday between Ukrainian and Russian officials made only limited progress on negotiating a cease-fire, the government in Kyiv said. There was no immediate statement from Russian negotiators. Still, the Ukrainian delegation said talks would continue. It comes amid continued Russian aggression and growing concerns about a spiraling humanitarian disaster. Russian forces destroyed an atomic-physics lab under international safeguards in Ukraine’s second-largest city, the head of the world’s nuclear watchdog said, underscoring growing safety concerns over fighting around the country’s facilities. Meanwhile, in Kyiv’s middle-class suburbs, desperate civilians are trapped, and three attempts so far to create a system for the safe passage of civilians have fallen apart within hours amid mutual recrimination. Follow the latest developments on the war. —Natasha Solo-Lyons

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U.S. stocks tumbled amid fears that rising energy costs would put the brakes on global economic growth. The S&P 500 fell 3% for the worst day since October 2020, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 3.7%. The Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany’s DAX index closed in bear markets. Oil jumped on the prospect of a ban on Russian supplies, with Brent crude rising as high as $139 a barrel, before trading closer to $125. Here’s your markets wrap. 

Russian oil is becoming even less welcome in the global petroleum market as traders fret over the possibility of a U.S.-led embargo of the nation’s supplies, and a purchase on Friday by Shell drew condemnation. European Union governments are divided over whether to join the U.S. in potentially banning Russian oil imports.

China warned the U.S. against trying to build what it called a Pacific version of NATO, while declaring that security disputes over Taiwan and Ukraine were “not comparable at all.” 

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg

American efforts to catch up with China and Russia in developing hypersonic weapons may be set back after Lockheed Martin’s air-launched missile suffered three consecutive test failures that left it on a tight schedule.

President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order this week that will outline the U.S. government’s strategy for cryptocurrencies, according to people familiar with the administration’s plans. The order will direct federal agencies to examine potential regulatory changes, as well as the national security and economic impact of digital assets.

Hong Kong’s Covid-19 death rate is now the highest in the world, after fatalities among the city’s under-vaccinated elderly surged and concerns mount there may be more to come as infections spread through care facilities. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. 

A pedestrian walks down steps in Hong Kong on March 5, 2022. Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

Netflix, TikTok, Samsung and credit-card operators have joined the lengthening list of businesses cutting ties with Russia or reviewing their operations in the country as reputational and financial risks mount.

• Bloomberg Opinion: Vladimir Putin’s goodbye will be a long one.
• Boeing halts Russian titanium purchases as Airbus keeps buying.
• Macro hedge fund that held on to Russia bets suffers record loss.
• Cathie Wood says she got supply shock wrong as oil prices soar.
• Russia swaps signal 80% chance of default on ruble decree.
• Covid can shrink the brain as much as a decade of aging, study finds.
• Asia’s largest retailer will continue to operate in Russia.

A cluster of towns built among fir and oak woodlands to the northwest of Kyiv have long attracted the capital’s middle class. Now they’ve been turned into places of utter desperation. Russian forces encroaching on Kyiv in a bid to encircle the city of 2.9 million have flooded into the suburban towns whose names are fast becoming synonymous with suffering. 

Residents take shelter in a metro station during Russian artillery strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 2, 2022. Photographer: Erin Trieb/Bloomberg

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Special Daily Brief—Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Get the latest news on the war and its implications for global security and the economy. 

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