1/ A bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a deal to ban the import of Russian energy and suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The bill also provides Biden with the authority to increase tariffs on both countries, and would require the U.S. trade representative to seek the suspension of Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization, as well as try to halt Belarus’s attempt to join the global trade organization. It’s unclear, however, if Biden would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he “would support” a ban on Russian oil imports. The prospect of Russian energy sanctions sent oil prices to a 14-year high, with the average national gasoline price exceeding $4 a gallon. Putin, meanwhile, told a group of Aeroflot flight attendants that Western sanctions on Russia were “akin to a declaration of war.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)

2/ The Biden administration has discussed a possible deal to send Poland’s Soviet-era MiG fighter jets to Ukraine. In exchange, the U.S. would replace Poland’s planes with American-made F-16s. Ukraine’s government is interested in the old planes because the country’s military pilots already know how to fly them. Putin, however, warned that Moscow would view any Western attempts to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participating in the armed conflict” against Russia. Separately, nearly all of the troops Russia amassed on Ukraine’s border are now fighting inside the country and the U.S. doesn’t believe that Russia is “preparing to move additional battalion tactical groups from elsewhere in the country to shore up what they’ve put into Ukraine.” Instead, Moscow is reportedly recruiting Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine. (New York Times / NBC News /