Russia intensifies assault around Kharkiv

• The death toll from a Russian rocket attack in Donetsk region has risen to 31
• 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
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to enable Russian citizenship for all Ukrainians

This live updates article is now closed. For our latest, from July 12, click here.

Ukrainian football clubs to resume play

Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine will kick off a new football season in August. 

"The Ukrainian football championship will start on August 23," Sports Minister Vadym Gutsait wrote on Facebook.

"We agreed to work out... the procedure for organizing and holding competitions under martial law," he added.

Ukrainian football clubs decided in April to end the previous season early after it was suspended following Russia's invasion.
Clubs will have to play in empty stadiums without spectators.

"During air raids, matches will be stopped, and football players, coaches and the staff must quickly go to a shelter," Gutsait said.

Pro-Russian village leader in Ukraine killed by car bomb

The pro-Russian head of a village occupied by Moscow's troops near Kharkiv in Ukraine died after his car was blown up.

A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group had killed Yevgeny Yunakov, chief administrator of Velikyi Burluk, the village's "military-civilian administration" told the Russian Tass news agency.

Meanwhile, Andrei Siguta, the Russian-installed district head of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia, escaped an attempt on his life on Monday. 

Attacks against pro-Moscow officials have increased in Kherson and the partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia in recent weeks.

Ukraine's richest person announces he is exiting media business

Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest person, would give up his vast media business because of pending plans to have all oligarchs listed in a state register.

He said Media Group Ukraine would hand over the licenses for its television channels and print media and cease online media.

"Being the largest private investor in the Ukrainian economy, I have repeatedly stated that I have never been and am not going to be an oligarch," he said.

Ukraine last year passed a law to order "oligarchs" to register and stay out of politics.

Akhmetov is considered a patron of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, but has avoided taking public political stances in recent years.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia in November of trying to use Akhmetov in a coup attempt against him. Akhmetov dismissed the allegations.

Death toll rises to 31 in wake of Russian strike on Chasiv Yar 

The death toll has risen to 31, as rescuers search rubble after a Russian missile hit a five-story building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Chasiv Yar.

Five people were brought out of the building alive, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko tweeted earlier.

Rescue efforts are continuing, and it remains unknown how many people are still missing.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said the rocket strike was "another terrorist attack" and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Moscow denies targeting civilians.

Zelenskyy and Erdogan discuss grain exports and Russian blockade

Ukraine wants to resume grain exports, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter they discussed the importance of unblocking Ukraine's ports in the Black Sea.

He also said Russia couldn't be allowed to seize grain in Ukrainian territories under its control. 

In an earlier phone call, Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin it was time to follow a United Nations proposal to create a corridor for Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.

Rutte warns war could drag on

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned the war in Ukraine may last longer than hoped.

"This war may last longer than we all hoped or expected. But that does not mean we can sit back and passively watch how it unfolds," Rutte said during a visit to Kyiv.

He said the Netherlands would supply Ukraine with more long-range artillery and an aid package for €200 million ($201 million).

"We have to stay focused and continue to support Ukraine in every way," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the "constructive" talks with Rutte and the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.

Romania probes Russian 'crimes against humanity' in Ukraine

Romania is investigating possible "crimes against humanity" in Ukraine.

Prosecutors said Russia's invasion resulted in "a large number of deaths among the civilian population, including children, as well as injuries."

Romania is exercising its jurisdiction based on the "principle of universality" and criminal law if crimes were committed against anyone holding Romanian citizenship in neighboring Ukraine. 

Last month, UN investigators found a high probability that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by invading Russian forces.

Erdogan urges Putin to create grain corridor

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the phone that it was time to follow a United Nations proposal to create a corridor for Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, Ankara's state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

The phone call between the two leaders comes at a time of record food prices, as the conflict in Ukraine, the world's largest grain supplier, has fueled concerns about global food security.

Putin eases Russian citizenship process for all Ukrainians

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday which will fast track Russian citizenship for all Ukrainians, a document published on the government's website showed.

Previously, a simplified procedure to be nationalized only applied to residents of the self-proclaimed breakaway territories of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine.

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.

lo,ar/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)