1. Ukraine update: Russia preparing wave of attacks
Bloomberg reports that Western allies see Kyiv, the Ukraine capital, poised to fall within hours to Russian forces. U.S. President Joe Biden announced additional sanctions on Russia as Western countries grappled with how to respond. That’s as fighting continued in Ukraine with Russian troops attacking from the north, south and east. The government in Kyiv declared martial law and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on citizens to take up arms.

2. Biden to introduce further sanctions on Russia
The president said that the totality of the penalties will target trillions in assets and include restrictions against Russian banks including VTB Bank and Sberbank. “Today, I’m authorizing additional strong sanctions, and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia,” Biden said. “This is going to impose a severe cost on the Russian economy both immediately and over time.” The White House has also authorized additional troops to be stationed in Germany as NATO allies look to bolster defences in Europe, Biden said.

3. Scott Morrison tries to calm the waters on petrol prices
Scott Morrison has played down the prospect of fighting “temporary” fuel price hikes with a cut in excise tax, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reignites concerns about Australia’s energy security.“The advice we’re getting, particularly out of the [International Energy Agency], is that this impact is likely to be short term, it’s likely to be temporary,” he told ABC Radio.

“You don’t go and completely recalibrate your budget based on fluctuations in oil prices. They’ve gone up, they’ve gone down.

“The movement in oil prices quickly overwhelms any sort of movements [in tax]. So people make these points politically, but governments, I think, have to look at these things in a bigger context.”

4. Oslo named closest city to emission-free travel
Findings of a new study by the Clean Cities Campaign, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, which analyzed 36 European cities on factors such as road safety for pedestrians, access to climate-friendly transportation and air quality has found that Oslo is making the most progress on wiping out mobility emissions, followed by Amsterdam and Helsinki. Naples and Krakow had the lowest scores due, in part, to congestion. The financial hubs Paris and London ranked fifth and 12th, respectively.

5. ASX set for further losses
ASX futures were down 3% or 215.1 points to 6999.6 near 7:30am AEDT. AUD -1.2% to 71.42 US cents. On Wall St: Dow -2.2% S&P 500 -1.1% Nasdaq -0.3%. In Europe: Stoxx 50 -3.6% FTSE -3.9% DAX -4% CAC -3.8%. 2-year yield: US -0.10% (1.50%) Australia -0.16% (1.13%). 10-year yield: US -0.06% (1.92%) Australia-0.23 (2.15%).