USD/RUB steadies around 85.00 ahead of Putin-Zelenskyy meet on likely ceasefire

• USD/RUB looks for more clarity on headlines of bombarding in Kyiv.
• The sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US aim to cripple their economy.
• The DXY remains subdued on the improved risk appetite of investors.

The USD/RUB pair is juggling near 85.00, as the market participants are in dilemma between the ceasefire expectations or more pain for the Russian economy amid sanctions imposed by the Western leaders.

USD/RUB surpassed a six-year high of around 82.45 on Thursday after the escalation of Russian military activities in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which further extended to other cities including the nation’s capital Kyiv. The headlines full of missiles, gunfire, and military troops had spooked the market and investors ran towards safe-haven assets to protect their liquidity.

In response to that US President Joe Biden has held Russia responsible for the death and destruction in Ukraine. The former has imposed several sanctions on the Kremlin starting with the disconnection of Moscow from the SWIFT international banking system and technology imports.

The Biden administration said in a statement that sanctions will target all 10 of Russia’s largest financial institutions and impose export control measures that will more than halve Russia’s high-tech imports, as per AlJazeera.

The sanctions from US President Joe Biden on the Kremlin aims to cripple the Russian economy, as the punishment will spurt their borrowing rates and inflations and will intensify their capital outflows.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's central bank has banned payments to entities in Russia and Belarus as well as operations involving both nations' currencies, as per Reuters.

The US dollar index (DXY) is trading lackluster near 97.00 after the shine of safe-haven assets dims amid a dead cat bounce in risk-perceived assets.