Ukraine: Russia intensifies assault around Kharkiv — live updates | News | DW
– Europe has been cut off from Russian gas after Nord Stream 1 was turned off for repairs
– Gas is due to recommence early in the morning of July 21
– Ukraine hit by widespread Russian shelling overnight
– The death toll from a Russian rocket attack in Donetsk region has risen to 18
This article was last updated at 09:10 UTC/GMT
Flow of Ukrainian refugees entering the EU now ‘stable’
The number of Ukrainians entering the European Union has returned to pre-invasion levels, a senior EU official said on Monday morning.
“When it comes to the refugee flows, the situation now is stable,” the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said ahead of a meeting in Prague.
“The crossings between the EU and Ukraine, the numbers are pre-war, pre-COVID level, so we are back to like a normal number of people crossing.”
The Czech Republic has the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita, followed by Poland, the Baltic states and Bulgaria. But around half of the 6 million Ukrainian refugees who fled to the EU have already returned home.
“I foresee that a lot of Ukrainians in the EU will take a decision before school starts — where to start school, in an EU member state or going back to Ukraine to start school there,” Johansson added.
UK: No territorial advances from Russia
In its daily update, the UK defense ministry said: “As of Sunday July 10, Russian artillery bombardments continued in the Donbas, but probably without any major territorial advances.”
Russian onslaught intensifies in the east of Ukraine
Russia opened fire with artillery, multiple rocket launchers and tanks in and around Kharkiv as Moscow kept up its onslaught on eastern cities, Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday.
An apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city was struck by a missile overnight.
Later on Monday, the regional governor said that three people had been killed in Kharkiv while dozens more were wounded from the Russian shelling.
Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian rocket attack that hit an apartment block in the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region over the weekend has risen to 18 as rescuers continue to search for survivors, the emergency services said.
Rescuers were in voice contact with two people trapped in the ruins of the five-story building in that was struck late on Saturday, the service said.
“As of 08:45 on July 11, … 18 people were killed, 6 people were rescued from the rubble,” it said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the rocket strike was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Russia reduces gas supply to Italy by a third
The Italian oil and gas company Eni said that the Russian state-owned gas provider Gazprom has announced that, from Monday, it will be delivering only 21 million cubic meters of gas per day, down from the average of 32 million cubic meters.
This reduction, which amounts to a third of average daily supplies, comes as the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany is turned off for maintenance work.
There are widespread fears that Russia is using its gas supplies to pressure European countries to lift sanctions imposed against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
And Austria’s OMV said Monday that Gazprom was further reducing its gas supply.
“OMV has been informed by Gazprom about a reduction in the gas supply. This means for today a reduction of about 70% of the amount that arrives at the Baumgarten natural gas hub” near the Slovak border, the group said in a statement, and reported on by news agency AFP.
Nord Stream 1 begins scheduled maintenance
Europe has been cut off from Russian gas after the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was turned off for planned repairs. The shutdown is expected to last 10 days, but other repairs have missed deadlines in the past.
Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck has warned that Russia could continue to suspend gas flows beyond the planned maintenance period in order to destabilize Europe.
“We are confronted by an unprecedented situation — anything is possible,” he told public radio over the weekend.
Several European countries remain dependent on Russian gas exports. After Russia invaded Ukraine this year, Germany reduced the proportion of gas it imports from Russia from 55% to around 35%.
What happened Sunday in Russia’s war against Ukraine
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister urged civilians in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson to urgently evacuate as Ukraine’s armed forces were preparing a counterattack there. Ukraine lost control of most of the Black Sea region of Kherson, including its eponymous capital, in the first weeks after Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Ukrainian emergency services said that the number of people killed in a Russian strike on a five-story apartment building had risen to 15. The incident took place in the town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region, not far from the front line.
Ukraine’s energy and foreign ministries said they were “deeply disappointed” by Canada’s decision to return a repaired Siemens turbine used for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline to Germany.
Canada announced it will grant a sanctions waiver for the return of repaired Russian turbines needed for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to pump more gas from Russia to Germany.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense said in its intelligence update that Russian shells fired from Izium continue to focus along the axis of the E40 main road. “Control of the E40, which links Donetsk to Kharkiv, is likely to be an important objective for Russia as it attempts to advance through Donetsk Oblast,” the ministry said.
Click here for more details on Sunday’s events in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
ar/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)