The UK is also ready to provide energy support to help Ukraine move away from Russian oil and gas.

They lost all bounds.

Hungary banned the export of wheat from the country.

New welcome message about fertilizers, specially for EU

The Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended that Russian fertilizer producers suspend export shipments amid problems with logistics, the ministry said in a statement.

"Currently, a situation is emerging where, due to sabotage of deliveries by a number of foreign logistics companies, farmers in Europe and other countries cannot receive the contracted volumes of fertilizers," the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

"Taking into account the current situation with the work of foreign logistics operators and the risks associated with it, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia was forced to recommend to Russian producers to temporarily suspend the shipment of Russian fertilizers for export until the carriers resume rhythmic work and provide guarantees for the implementation of export deliveries of Russian fertilizers in full," - noted in the press release.

It will not be easy to reduce the dependence of EU consumers on gas from Russia, but Europe can already take certain steps to achieve this, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA)

“Reducing dependence on Russian gas will not be easy for the EU and will require concerted and sustained political efforts across many sectors, along with strong international dialogue on energy markets and security,” the report says.

The agency suggests ten steps as the steps needed to reduce addiction.

• Do not sign new gas contracts with Russia.
• Replace Russian gas with fuel from alternative sources.
• Introduce obligations to store minimum volumes of gas.
• Accelerate the construction of new wind and solar stations.
• Increase electricity generation through bio- and nuclear energy.
• Take short-term windfall tax measures to protect vulnerable energy consumers from high prices.
• Accelerate the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps.
• Improve energy efficiency in industry.
• Encourage consumers to temporarily lower their thermostat settings by one degree.
• Diversify and decarbonize sources of energy system flexibility.

According to the IEA, these measures will help reduce gas imports from the EU by 50 billion cubic meters. m per year. The agency estimates that in 2021 the European Union imported 155 bcm from Russia. m of natural gas, which is about 45% of EU gas imports and about 40% of total consumption.

Dockers union calls for closing loophole that allows Russian cargo to enter the UK on ships registered in other countries

The dockers, who had vowed not to unload a tanker carrying Russian gas due to arrive at the Thames Estuary port early Friday, prevailed after the vessel was rejected, according to the Guardian.

The Boris Vilkitsky was heading to Grain Island with a shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Centrica, the owner of British Gas, due to an apparent loophole in the UK Department of Transport ban on unloading ships linked to Russia.

But after dockers represented by the Unison union warned they would rebel against any orders to help bring the gas ashore, the ship will no longer dock at the Kent plant.

Tankers carrying oil and gas are still arriving or heading to ports across the country, including Port Foyle in Derry and Liverpool. But National Grid, which operates the LNG terminal on the Isle of Grain, has confirmed that it no longer expects Russian gas supplies.

Always remember that all large unions are controlled by government now :-)

So, UK elites really like to see mass misery of UK people.

Aluminum rose to a new record, nickel hit an 11-year high, and zinc hit a high since 2007 on fears of cuts in supplies from Russia at a time when global metal inventories are already low.

The cost of zinc on the LME increased by 3.6% to $3999 per ton, aluminum went up by 2.1% to $3642 per ton, nickel - by 4.1% to $26935 per ton.

“Our agriculture, our industry, many sectors of the economy are suffering and will suffer even more, either because they depend on primary raw materials imported from Russia or Ukraine, or because they export to these countries,” Macron said in a televised address to citizens of France.

He stressed that the conflict in Ukraine will significantly affect the economic decline in France. The rise in prices for gas, oil, raw materials already has and will have even greater consequences for the purchasing power of citizens, the French leader continued. Tomorrow, gas prices, heating bills, prices for a number of products will rise even more.

Gas prices in Europe have broken through the bar of $2,200 per thousand cubic meters and have once again updated their all-time high, according to data from the London-based ICE Futures exchange.

If April futures traded at $1,500 at the open and then even declined slightly, they soon moved to a steady rise and reached $2,226 by 11:58. This is 59.4 percent higher than the settlement price of the previous day ($1,396.5).

Coal prices

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Kyiv is demanding a complete embargo on trade in Russian oil and gas.

"We demand a complete embargo on the trade in bloody Russian oil and gas. The first decisions in this direction have already been made by Canada and this wave will continue to grow," Kuleba said during an online briefing.

Residents of the countries of the European Union will experience some difficulties due to the desire of the EU authorities to be in solidarity with Ukraine, said the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with Euronews.

“Yes, we know that every war has a price, but our solidarity with Ukraine is huge. If you look at the refugees who are accepted in the European Union, at the financial support, at the supply of military equipment, all this points to deep solidarity with Ukraine,” the head of the EC said.

"Some difficulties" will translate in largest ever life level drop in the history of Europe countries.

It all comes down to whether the EU decides to destroy its economy by doing what we Americans call ‘suicide by cop.’ That’s where someone wants to die and picks a fight with a policeman in order to get the cop to shoot him.

Europe is staring at a complete collapse of its economy if they sanction Russia’s energy sector and shut down her ability to do business with their banks. The question no one is asking is, “Did they provoke this fight on purpose to do exactly this?” From where I’m sitting, it looks to me like their insistence on zero diplomatic concessions to Russia led directly to this outcome. So, the answer to my question is ‘Yes, it was deliberate.’

But, even if I’m wrong and there are other unstated reasons why Russia blitzed Ukraine’s military installations off the map last night, the fallout from this will be far higher energy prices than the weak coalition governments will be able to sustain. I expect the map of Europe will look very different by the end of 2024 than it does today, reaching far beyond Ukraine.

I, for one, welcome this act of solidarity. I'd rather see gas rationing in Germany than have Putin go unopposed. And yes indeed i live in Germany and i use gas for heating myself.