Ukraine

The Russian rouble, and its stocks, surged Thursday following a phone conversation between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. In the call the two leaders discussed how to end the Ukraine War. According to data on the over-the counter market, at 0745 GMT the rouble had risen 3% against the dollar and was trading at 90.90, its highest level since September 2024. During the trading session, the rouble briefly reached the highest level since September 11 at 89.90. The rouble has gained 20% against the dollar since the beginning of the year. The Moscow Exchange index (MOEX),...

The regional governor of Saratov, Russia, said that a Ukrainian drone attacked an "industrial facility" within the region. In a Telegram post, Roman Busargin (the governor of Saratov) said that preliminary information indicated there were no casualties. The Shot news telegram telegram channel was one of several unofficial Russian Telegram channels that reported fires and explosions near an oil refinery located in Saratov in Russia's South. Social media posts and videos showed thick smoke clouds in the night sky. We could not independently confirm the reports. Ukraine has not yet responded. Kyiv has said many times that its air strikes...

The governor of Krasnodar said that a drone attack from Ukraine overnight caused a fire to break out at an oil storage depot in the southern Russian region. 55 firefighters were battling the blaze. In recent days, a series of drone strikes by Ukraine against Russia's energy infrastructure has sparked fires at a major refinery in Volgograd and at the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. Veniamin Kodratyev said, "The fire is contained and there are no injuries," on Telegram, as a team of 19 firefighters tried to extinguish flames. Kondratyev didn't specify which depot was burning or the extent of damage....

The oil prices fell on Wednesday, as market concerns about a Sino-U.S. new trade war and rising U.S. stockpiles offset President Donald Trump’s renewed push to end Iranian crude exports. Brent crude futures fell 39 cents or 0.51% to $75.81 per barrel at 0427 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a crude oil produced in the United States, lost 26 cents or 0.36% to $72.44. Oil traded across a range on Tuesday, with WTI dropping at one point to its lowest level since December 31, after China announced tariffs against U.S. imports for oil, natural gas liquefied and coal as...

The Moldovan opposition leader, Alexandr Stoianoglo who lost the presidential vote held in November, announced on Friday that he would lead a coalition consisting of three parties against the pro-Western majority ruling at the parliament elections this year. Last year, the former prosecutor general was closer than anyone expected to unseating pro Western President Maia Sandu. She lost in a runoff after campaigning on a balanced foreign policies that looked to Russia and West. He was backed by a pro-Moscow party. The election is expected to be a close one and could result in Sandu's pro Western PAS party losing...

The leader of Moldova's. separatist Transdniestria area, gripped by power and heating. cuts, said on Friday that gas reserves would be exhausted within. days and prompted the central federal government to end synthetic delays. and offer new products. However Moldova's prime minister said the option could be. solved only if Russian gas manufacturer Gazprom resumed. shipments to Moldova, or if the pro-Russian separatist region. agreed to pay for gas secured on European markets. Transdniestria, which split from Moldova as the Soviet Union. was collapsing, had actually long gotten Russian gas passing through. Ukraine, however authorities in Kyiv, secured a nearly...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday stated he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC lower the expense of oil and will ask Riyadh to increase a scheduled U.S. investment bundle to $1 trillion from an initial reported $600. billion. His remarks come one day after Trump and Saudi Arabian Crown. Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed what the White House called. the kingdom's global financial ambitions along with. trade concerns. Previously on Thursday, the Saudi State news agency stated. the kingdom wants to put $600 billion into expanded investment. and trade with the U.S. over the next 4 years. But I'll...

President Vladimir Putin has grown progressively worried about distortions in Russia's. wartime economy, simply as Donald Trump pushes for an end to the. Ukraine conflict, five sources with knowledge of the circumstance. told Reuters. Russia's economy, driven by exports of oil, gas and. minerals, grew robustly over the previous two years in spite of numerous. rounds of Western sanctions enforced after its invasion of. Ukraine in 2022. However domestic activity has actually ended up being strained in recent months. by labour lacks and high interest rates introduced to tackle. inflation, which has accelerated under record military costs. That has actually...

A major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov area was assaulted, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday, without directly claiming Ukrainian duty or defining the consequences of the attack. The enterprise is one of the primary providers of dynamite products for the army of the Russian Federation, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, composed on Telegram of the powder factory. With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant increased significantly, he added. There was no instant public comment from Russia on the attack on the factory. Individually, Ukraine's armed force said...

Six European Union countries called on the European Commission to decrease the $60 per barrel price cap put on Russian oil by G7 countries, arguing it would decrease Moscow's revenues to continue the war in Ukraine while not causing a market shock. Cost caps on Russian seaborne crude in addition to refined petroleum items were set by G7 countries to suppress Moscow's. profits from oil trade and in this method limitation the nation's. capability to fund its invasion of Ukraine. Procedures that target incomes from the export of oil are. crucial considering that they lower Russia's single most important earnings....

Russian oil manufacturer Gazpromneft brushed off the effect of significant brand-new U.S. sanctions on Friday, while insurance provider Ingosstrakh said they would produce a market vacuum that would benefit less credible rivals. The outbound administration of President Joe Biden on Friday imposed its broadest bundle of sanctions yet, targeting Russia's oil and gas profits in an attempt to offer Kyiv and the inbound administration of Donald Trump leverage to reach an offer for peace in Ukraine. A U.S. official said the procedures need to expense Russia billions of dollars a month. Gazpromneft, likewise hit by British sanctions, stated it would...

A Russian court has actually purchased web company Yandex to conceal access to maps and pictures of among Russia's largest oil refineries due to continuous attacks by Ukrainian drones, state news agency TASS reported on Friday. Yandex, frequently described as Russia's Google, operates the nation's largest search engine and other online services like maps, translate and email, along with ride-hailing and food delivery. The court in Moscow ordered Yandex to omit information about the refinery's facilities from its search results page by getting rid of and editing images of workshops, compressor stations and other parts of the plant from Yandex...

According to a source who is familiar with Bessent's plans, U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent will visit Ukraine this week to talk about a possible deal involving rare earth minerals. Bessent is the first Cabinet-level official from President Donald Trump's Administration to visit Ukraine. Both Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have expressed an interest in a deal that would allow the United States to access Ukraine's rare-earth resources in exchange of continued support for the Russian invasion. Source, who asked to remain anonymous as the plans are still classified, didn't provide any additional information on the itinerary. The White...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the President of Ukraine has He is willing to make a deal with U.S. president Donald Trump, which includes U.S. participation in the development of Ukraine's vast deposits of rare Earths and other vital minerals. Trump stated on February 3, that he wants Ukraine to provide the U.S. rare earths as a return for Kyiv financially supporting its war effort against Russia. Zelenskiy presented the idea to Kyiv’s allies including Trump in his "victory Plan" strategy last autumn. The plan includes, among other things: reaching agreements with partners abroad to allow joint access to Ukraine’s strategic valuable resources....

The UK's FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday, after two consecutive days of declines, boosted by gains made in the shares of gold and heavyweight GSK. Investors are now focused on this week's Bank of England rate decision. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.6% higher while the mid-cap FTSE 250, which is focused on domestic companies, rose 0.5%. GSK's share price jumped 7.6% following the launch of a 2-billion-pound ($2.5-billion) share buyback program and a boost in its long term sales target to almost $50 billion. Gold prices reached another record high, and precious metals miners surged by 3.6%. Fresnillo climbed...

The parliament approved the creation of a state-owned investment vehicle that will oversee government investments in some the largest companies. It is similar to Singapore's Temasek investment arm. Soon after Prabowo Subito assumed office in October, the creation of Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara) was announced with the goal of improving performance and returns on state investments. Danantara will have an initial capital of at least 1,000 trillion Rupiah (61 billion dollars). Sufmi dasco Ahmad, deputy speaker to parliament, told reporters that it would take over the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry's holdings in all state-owned companies. State companies play...

President Vladimir Putin has grown increasingly concerned about distortions in Russia's. wartime economy, simply as Donald Trump promotes an end to the. Ukraine conflict, five sources with understanding of the circumstance. told Reuters. Russia's economy, driven by exports of oil, gas and. minerals, grew robustly over the past 2 years in spite of numerous. rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of. Ukraine in 2022. However domestic activity has actually become strained in current months by. labour lacks and high rates of interest introduced to take on. inflation, which has accelerated under record military spending. That has actually added...

The European Commission intends to propose a ban on imports of Russian main aluminium in its 16th plan of sanctions against Russia over its intrusion of Ukraine, European Union diplomats stated on Tuesday. EU countries hope to pass a 16th bundle of constraints in February to mark the 3rd anniversary of the war. The Commission held casual conferences with EU countries on Tuesday to discuss information of the forthcoming plan, the sources stated. One source included that the restriction would be phased in. In a letter late last year, 10 EU nations proposed further sanctions on Russian trade, including its...

Russian forces are closing in on the tactically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of towns to its south, and Ukraine has actually halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance. Here are some key points about Pokrovsk and the fight. WHAT IS POKROVSK? Pokrovsk is a roadway and rail center in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk area, which had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. While the majority of people have actually run away, Ukraine estimated last month that approximately 11,000 still stay in the city. It pushes an essential road...

Ukraine increased rolled steel production by almost 16% in 2024 to 6.2 million heaps and increased exports thanks to higher raw steel output, its steel producers' union stated late on Monday. Ukraine's steel output increased by 21.6% to 7.58 million metric lots in spite of production suffering because Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has actually led to the destruction of steel plants. 2 industry sources informed Reuters this week that Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine, situated in Pokrovsk, due to advancing Russian forces. That postures a fresh difficulty for a market which in...

Ukraine's steel output increased by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric loads, its manufacturers union said late on Thursday, though combating that is closing in on the nation's only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year. Steel production has actually currently suffered considering that Russia's. intrusion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has caused the damage of. leading steel plants. Ukraine, formerly a major steel manufacturer and exporter,. reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million lots. It. fell to 6 million heaps in 2023. The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure. of...

Chemicals factories founded or owned by a few of Russia's wealthiest men are supplying components to plants that manufacture explosives utilized by Moscow's military throughout the war in Ukraine, an analysis of train and financial data shows. Reuters determined five chemical companies, in which 5 Western-sanctioned billionaires hold stakes, that offered more than 75% of the key chemicals delivered by rail to some of Russia's biggest explosives factories from the start of the war up until September this year, according to the railway information. The news agency's analysis shows for the very first time how heavily factories forming part of...

A coal mine in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, the sole domestic supplier of coking coal to the steel market, continues to operate as Russian troops approach, an industry source stated on Friday. Ukrainian military expert DeepState said Russian soldiers were less than 7 km (4.4 miles) from Pokrovsk's outskirts. The my own lies 10 km (6.2 miles) west of the town, a strategic supply center, in the opposite instructions to the advancing Russian forces. The mine continues to operate at the very same volume as in recent weeks, said the source, who asked not to be called. It's...

ArcelorMittal, the world's. secondlargest steelmaker, might more than double annual. production by at least 3 million metric lots in wartorn Ukraine. if the scenario stabilises there, the steelmaker's Chief. Financial Officer Genuino Christino told investors during a. quarterly teleconference on Thursday. Christino did not elaborate on what conditions the company. would need to improve production. The Luxembourg-based company operates a steel plant in the. city of Kryvyi Rih that is running at 40% of capacity. The. plant presently produces 500,000 tons of steel on a quarterly. basis. Given that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the. plant had been...