Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Widespread Russian shelling, commodities rise, and more Wall Street earnings.

There’s still little hope of peace in Ukraine, with Russian bombs and missiles hitting locations around the country, including the western city of Lviv. Even though President Vladimir Putin last week said that talks are at a dead end, billionaire Roman Abramovich travelled to Kyiv in a bid to restart negotiations. On the market side, there is an increasing risk that Putin’s demand for gas payments in rubles will lead to a de facto gas embargo in Europe as lawyers in the bloc draft a finding showing payments in the Russian currency would violate sanctions. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Europe can reduce energy dependence on Russia sooner than previously expected.