Brent crude approaching $103 USD per barrel. Russia has temporarily suspended shipping in the Sea of Azov, a source in the maritime sector told TASS. Reports of The Ukraine urging Turkey to shut down Russian ships sailing in the Bosporus.

European Gas Jumps 41% After Russia Attacks Ukraine Military Targets. Benchmark Dutch futures gained as much as 41% in their fourth-straight daily advance. German power for March soared as much as 31%. Russian gas exporter Gazprom PJSC said Thursday its transit to Europe via Ukraine is going as normal.

Brent crude nearing $105 per barrel. Oil Buyers Struggle To Finance Russian Crude Following Ukraine Invasion. Highest since 2014.

Ukraine's military has suspended commercial shipping at its ports . Russia earlier suspended the movement of commercial vessels in the Azov Sea until further notice, but kept Russian ports in the Black Sea open for navigation. Egypt's state grains buyer cancelled an international purchasing tender for wheat on Thursday as the crisis led to reports that no offers of either Russian or Ukrainian wheat had been received.

Ukraine/Russia wheat exports affected by port shutdowns and shippers not sailing in Azov Sea. US CME wheat futures price up over 12% this morning. In Europe's EuroNext exchange Milling Wheat is up 40% to $327 per ton. China’s customs agency approved imports of wheat from all regions of Russia, giving Putin an alternative to Western markets that might be closed under possible sanctions.

Europe benchmark Dutch natural gas futures rose as much as 62%, the most since at least 2005 this morning. Dutch TTF Gas Mar '22 is up 35% after a big correction. 120 euros per MWh. Other months contracts up 25-31% now.

Cyberattack - Multiple government websites in Russia including the Kremlin and the State Duma have fallen offline. US intelligence agencies offer Biden options for a "large-scale cyberattack" against Russia. Biden asked to cut internet connection in Russia, cut off electricity supply and cut railroad to prevent resupply - NBC

A reminder that the Russian Federation has been working over a decade on alternative payment systems to SWIFT in case this day would arrive that they may be disconnected. The mainstream media narrative of potentially using SWIFT to put Russia in their place is a fallacy fooling the pubic at large into thinking it is an effective tool. Do not be misled to think this will harm or stop President Putin's actions. There are alternative payment systems already up, tested and running for Russian businesses and government to conduct business internally and internationally.

1. SPFS -Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages. equivalent of SWIFT and was developed by the Central Bank of Russia since 2014, after the United States government threatened to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system.

2. INSTEX - Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges. Was used to facilitate legitimate trade with Iran while under sanctions in light of challenges faced by European market participants.

3. MIR - is a Russian payment system for electronic fund transfers established by the Central Bank of Russia under a law adopted on 1 May 2017. Mir cards are accepted mostly by Russia-based companies, such as Aeroflot or Russian Railways, although it is gradually becoming popular among foreign companies with Russian operations.

4. Payment-versus-Payment (PVP) - is a prophylactic foreign exchange settlement mechanism that requires the simultaneous transfer of currencies for purposes of transactional security. Tested as a yuan-ruble payment system for financial businesses.

5. China’s cross-border interbank payment system, CIPS - the main purpose of the system is to encourage international use of the yuan, but it also provides an alternative to the western SWIFT payment system. Russia has participated in this.

6. Russia had their CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) under trials last month. They invited non-banking partners such as exchanges and credit institutions to the network to test the system for moments like this. There is more development and stage 2 trials this year so I'm not sure this is a immediate solution.

Anonymous claims to have taken down Russia's RT.com servers. Now can confirm that the servers are down.

Also - The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country's hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project.

Concerns arise over Bio Safety Labs in Ukraine funded by the US DoD and whether 'gain-of-function' studies of viruses have taken place at the BSL's. If Russia bombs one of these labs, things can get serious.