LIVE – Updated at 11:36
Ukrainian official says Russia using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as a base to store weapons, including missile systems.
11:36
Russian armed forces have destroyed a factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that produced parts for Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Russian forces have also shot down three Ukrainian airplanes and two helicopters, the ministry said.
11:32
The number of people killed after a Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday has risen to 24, after a woman died in hospital of her burn wounds, a Ukrainian official has told Agence France-Presse.
Russia claims the strikes – hundreds of kilometres from the front lines – had targeted a meeting of Ukrainian military officials and foreign arms suppliers. Kyiv has denied these claims.
UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said he was “appalled” by the attack, while the EU has condemned it as an “atrocity”.
10:44
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Saturday that it had asked German group Siemens to return a turbine it has repaired in Canada to ensure the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe works.
Gazprom began 10 days of scheduled annual maintenance on the pipeline on Monday, with EU countries – particularly gas-reliant Germany – waiting nervously to see if the taps will be turned back on.
Moscow had already wound down supplies by 60% in recent weeks, blaming the absence of the turbine.
Despite western sanctions on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, Canada has agreed to grant what it has described as a time-limited and revocable permit for Siemens Canada to allow the machine’s return, AFP reports.
But Gazprom claims it has received no guarantees of it being sent back.
It said in a statement:
On July 15, Gazprom submitted an official request to Siemens to obtain the documents ... to allow the export of the gas turbine engine of the Portovaya station, a critical facility for the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Gazprom is counting on the Siemens group to unconditionally fulfil its obligations relating to the repair and maintenance of gas turbine engines on which the reliability of Nord Stream gas pipeline operations and natural gas deliveries to European consumers rely.
The maintenance work on the gas link was scheduled long in advance, but amid hostile relations between Russia and the west, some fear Gazprom might seize the opportunity to cut the supply through the pipeline for good.
10:22
US teasury secretary, Janet Yellen, told reporters on Saturday that finance officials from the G20 reached strong consensus on many issues, including the need to address a worsening food security crisis, despite differences over Russia’s war in Ukraine that prevented leaders from issuing a joint statement, the Associated Press reports.