WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices traded higher on Monday after settling sharply lower on Friday due to persistent concerns of weak demand in China, the world's largest importer of crude, and forecasts of a global oil surplus.
Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.6 percent to $71.48 in European trade while WTI crude futures were up half a percent at $67.23.
Investors weighed the risk of supply disruptions after fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensified over the weekend.
A 'massive' Russian missile and drone attack has targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with long-range missiles supplied by the U.S. has sparked a furious response in Russia, with Russian senator Vladimir Dzhabarov calling it 'an unprecedented step towards World War Three'.
The change in stance follows Russia's deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv.
The Russian president had said he would consider strikes by U.S.-made weapons on Russian soil as the direct involvement of Nato in the conflict.
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