The military operation in Ukraine is killing the stock and foreign exchange markets of Russia and Ukraine

The opening of trading on the Ukrainian Stock Exchange was marked by a collapse of shares and the stock index. As of 11:00 Kyiv time, the UX Index fell 6.64 percent, shares of the Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works lost 8.45 percent, Azovstal - 7.54 percent, Yenakievsky Iron and Steel - 2.07 percent.

Raiffeisen Bank Aval became the leader of the decline in quotations, having lost 14.39 percent of the share price.

An even more difficult situation has developed on the Moscow Exchange, where trading in shares of the mining and metallurgical company Mechel, which has lost more than 30 percent of its value since the beginning of trading, and Mostotrest, which has collapsed by 20 percent, have already been suspended.

The MICEX index fell by 9.64 percent, to 1317.15 points, while the RTS index fell by 10.98 percent, to 1128.09 points.

In addition, the Russian ruble today updated historical lows against the dollar and the euro, the US dollar against the Ukrainian hryvnia on the interbank market of Ukraine increased by 5 percent to 11 hryvnia per dollar.

Experts associate the fall in shares with the desire of foreign investors to leave the Russian and Ukrainian markets, which leads to the release of large blocks of shares for trading.

Earlier it was reported that Russia has launched a military operation in Crimea designed to protect the Russian-speaking population of the peninsula from nationalist forces.