Brent crude futures rose 0.82%, to $72.81 as of 09:34 CAT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.93%, to $69.39.

Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday, the latest Western weapon it has been permitted to use on Russian targets, a day after it fired US ATACMS missiles.

Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says that in order to defend itself it must be able to strike Russian rear bases used to support Moscow's invasion, which entered its 1 000th day this week.

"For oil, the risk is if Ukraine targets Russian energy infrastructure, while the other risk is uncertainty over how Russia responds to these attacks," said ING analysts in a note.

--Reuters--