Russia-Ukraine live news: No ‘pause’ in Moscow’s attacks

• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says there has been no let-up in Russian attacks on his country with 34 air raids conducted in the past 24 hours, including the attack that has so far killed 15 in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar.
• The head of Ukraine’s president’s office, Andriy Yermak, calls the Chasiv Yar attack an act of “terrorism” saying Russia should be on the list of state terrorist sponsors.
• Ukraine’s deputy prime minister urges civilians in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson to urgently evacuate as Ukraine’s armed forces are preparing a counter-attack there.
• The Nord Stream 1 pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany starts annual maintenance on Monday, with flows expected to stop for 10 days, but governments, markets and companies are worried Moscow might extend the shutdown.

Here are the latest updates:

11 mins ago (01:51 GMT)

Air raid sirens activated, blasts reported in Mykolaiv

Air raid sirens were activated across the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv in the last hour with several residents reporting blasts on social media.

One user said there had been nine explosions in the city by 4:30am on Monday.

Another resident posted a video where a blast is heard.

“Typical night-morning of Nikolaev,” he said, using the Russian spelling of Mykolaiv.

Типичное ночь-утро Николаева pic.twitter.com/wzn1UjdQgT

— Beyond 🇺🇦🇫🇮 (@Beyoondd) July 11, 2022

17 mins ago (01:44 GMT)

Ukraine ‘deeply disappointed’ by Canadian decision to return turbine

Ukraine’s energy and foreign ministries have said they are “deeply disappointed” by Canada’s decision to hand back a repaired Siemens turbine used for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline to Germany.

The statement, published on the energy ministry’s website, called on the Canadian government to reverse its decision and said that returning the turbine would amount to adjusting the sanctions imposed on Moscow “to the whims of Russia.”

26 mins ago (01:35 GMT)

Fearing Russian gas shut-off, France’s industry turns to oil

France’s energy-intensive companies are speeding up contingency plans and converting their gas boilers to run on oil as they seek to avoid disruption in the event any further reduction in Russian gas supplies leads to power outages, Reuters reports.

Gathered over the weekend at a business and economics conference in southern France, several top executives said they were preparing for possible blackouts.

“What we’ve done is we’ve converted our boilers, so they’re capable of running on gas or oil, and we can even switch to coal if we need to,” said Florent Menegaux, the boss of Michelin, one of the world’s leading tyre-makers.

France relies on nuclear power for around 70 percent of its electricity, meaning it is far less directly dependent on Russian gas than neighbouring Germany. However, the state-controlled electricity producer EDF is struggling to meet France’s needs because of outages at its ageing power plants, increasing the strain on the rest of the energy sector.

2 hours ago (00:02 GMT)

Ukraine’s army holding back Russian forces in village near Sloviansk: Governor

Ukraine’s army has trapped Russian forces in the area of the village of Bilohorivka, about 50km (30 miles) east of Sloviansk, from where they are shelling the surrounding settlements and carrying out air attacks, the governor of Luhansk has said.

Serhiy Haidai said that Ukraine’s army was holding Russia’s forces from advancing further and that Moscow’s talk of the imminent capture of Sloviansk and Bakhmut was at this point, “just words”.

The Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said that a Russian missile had struck Druzhkivka, a town behind the front line, and reported shelling of other population centres.

2 hours ago (23:51 GMT)

Russian rockets destroy school and children’s health centre in Kharkiv: Officials

Russian rockets damaged a school and a health centre for children in Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv early on Sunday, local officials have said.

The shelling left no casualties, but severely damaged the school’s building.

“I think that this is genocide of our nation and our culture,” Vadym Kostenko, whose granddaughter went to the damaged school, told the Reuters news agency.

In another district, a rocket destroyed a private house and damaged a health centre for children. Officials also earlier said a rocket hit a residential building in the centre of the city, injuring six people.

2 hours ago (23:38 GMT)

Chasiv Yar attack a ‘terrorist’ act: Zelenskyy adviser

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff has called the attack on the town of Chasiv Yar a terrorist act, and has again called for Russia to be officially considered a state sponsor of terrorism.

“The Russians hit a high-rise apartment building with civilians again. Another terrorist attack by a terrorist country,” Andriy Yermak wrote on Twitter.

“The Russian Federation should be on the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” he added.

Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region.

The Russians hit a high-rise apartment building with civilians again. Another terrorist attack by a terrorist country.

The Russian Federation should be on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. pic.twitter.com/6iZDwNehLL

— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) July 10, 2022

3 hours ago (23:21 GMT)

No ‘pause’ in Russian attacks: Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy has said there was not let-up in Russian air attacks on his country, after officials said at least 15 people were killed, and two dozen more were feared trapped after Russian Uragan rockets hit a five-storey apartment block in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Speaking during his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said the death toll from the attack in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar was likely to rise.

“Two residential high-rise buildings were destroyed. Dozens of people are under the rubble. Six were saved. There are 15 names in the list of the dead and, unfortunately, this is not the final number,” he said, refuting claims that Russian air raids had been “paused”.

“34 airstrikes by Russian aviation in the past 24 hours, in one past day, is an answer to all those who invented this ‘pause’,” he said, adding: “The Ukrainian army is holding on, holding firm … But, of course, a lot still needs to be done so that Russian losses become such that there will really be a pause.”

3 hours ago (23:15 GMT)

Europe on edge as Russian gas link set for planned shutdown

The biggest single pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany starts annual maintenance on Monday, with flows expected to stop for 10 days, but governments, markets and companies are worried the shutdown might be extended due to war in Ukraine.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline transports 55 billion cubic metres a year of gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. It will undergo maintenance from July 11 to 21. Europe fears Russia may extend the scheduled maintenance to restrict European gas supply further, throwing plans to fill storage for the northern winter into disarray and heightening a gas crisis that has prompted emergency measures from governments and painfully high bills for consumers.

Germany’s economy minister has said the country should confront the possibility that Russia will suspend gas flows through Nord Stream 1 beyond the scheduled maintenance period.

“Based on the pattern we’ve seen, it would not be very surprising now if some small, technical detail is found and then they could say ‘now we can’t turn it on any more’,” Robert Habeck said at an event at the end of June.

Read all updates from July 10 here.