Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday blamed Ukrainian secret services for the huge blast a day earlier that ripped through Russia's Crimea bridge, which he described as a "terrorist act". Russian missile barrage killed at least 17 people in an overnight "missile attack" in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the second deadly strike there in three days. Read about the day's events as they unfolded on our live blog. All times are Paris time (GMT + 2). All times are Paris time (GMT + 2).
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October 10, 3:47am: Fresh Russian shelling hits residential building in Zaporizhzhia
Overnight shelling of the city of Zaporizhzhia destroyed a multi-storey apartment building causing injuries, Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the broader Zaporizhzhia region said early on Monday.
“As a result of a missile attack in the centre of Zaporizhzhia, a multi-storey residential building was destroyed again,” Starukh said on the Telegram messaging app. “There are injured.”
An early Sunday strike on the city killed at least 13 people and injured 87 others, including 10 children.
7:35pm: Putin calls Kerch Bridge attack "a terrorist act" by Kyiv
Russian news reports say President Vladimir Putin is calling the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services.
"There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure,” Putin said in a video of a meeting Sunday with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin.
Bastrykin said he had opened a criminal case into an act of terrorism.
Bastrykin said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the act.
“We have already established the route of the truck” that Russian authorities have said set off a bomb and explosion on the bridge, he said. Bastrykin said the truck had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia, Krasnodar (a region in southern Russia) and other places.
7:05pm: Small, Ukrainian-made drones help destroy Russia's defenses
Ukrainians seek to build on recent gains by fighting air wars from the ground. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent, Mélina Huet and Raïed Abu Zaideh report from Ukraine.
6:48pm: Russia sees 'considerable increase' of Ukrainian fire into its territory, says FSB
Russia's FSB security service said Sunday it had seen a "considerable increase" of Ukrainian fire into its territory in recent days, claiming one person had been killed and five wounded in the past week.
"Since the start of October, the number of attacks from Ukrainian armed formations on Russia's border territory has considerably increased," said the FSB which is responsible for border security.
The attacks have concentrated on the Russian region of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, as well as Bryansk and Kursk, the FSB said.
It said that in the past week "more than 100 bombardments were recorded in 32 localities, with the use of multiple rocket launchers, artillery, mortars and drones".
6:37pm: Ukraine nuclear site, Europe's biggest, reconnected to grid
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia atomic energy plant is reconnected to the grid, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Sunday, describing it as "temporary relief in a still untenable situation".
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday that the plant — Europe's largest nuclear power station -- had lost its last source of external power after renewed shelling and was relying on emergency generators.
"Our team at Zaporizhzhia confirms the offsite power line lost yesterday was restored and ZNPP (the plant) is reconnected to the grid — a temporary relief in a still untenable situation," IAEA head Rafael Grossi tweeted on Sunday.
Although the plant's six reactors are in cold shutdown, they require electricity for vital nuclear safety and security functions, including cooling.
3:11pm: US says it will continue offering security assistance to Ukraine
The White House on Sunday declined to comment on an explosion that damaged Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea but said it will continue to supply Ukraine with arms, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had started the war and could end it if he chose.
"We don't really have anything more to add to the reports about the explosion on the bridge. I just don't have anything to contribute to that this morning," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC's "This Week" program. "What I can tell you is that Mr. Putin started this war, and Mr. Putin could end it today, simply by moving his troops out of the country."
3:42pm: Ukrainians react with joy on social media after Crimean bridge attack
Ukrainian social media users reacted with joy after a key bridge linking Russia with Crimea was partially destroyed by an explosion. People had already been posting jokes about the possibility of the bridge's destruction; many Ukrainians regard it as a symbol of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, was a little more subtle. FRANCE 24's correspondent Gulliver Cragg has more from Ukraine.
2:39pm: Putin to chair Russian Security Council meeting Monday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting with his Security Council on Monday, two days after a huge blast ripped through Russia's Crimea bridge, the Kremlin told local news agencies.
"Tomorrow the president has a planned meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
9:14am: Second deadly missile strike in three days hits Zaporizhzhia residential zone
FRANCE 24's correspondent in Ukraine, Gulliver Cragg, has more details on the overnight missile strike in Zaporizhzhia city.
8:29am: Drone operators play key role in Ukrainian counteroffensive in northeast
Ukraine is counting not only on Western arms but on inexpensive, easily procurable weapons such as drones to counter Russian firepower. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris Trent reports.
7:52am: More than a dozen killed in overnight strike in city of Zaporizhzhia
At least 17 people were killed in an overnight missile strike in the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, local official Anatoliy Kurtev said early on Sunday.
"As a result of an overnight missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, apartment buildings and roads in a residential area of the city have been damaged," Kurtev, the secretary of the city’s administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"At this time, 17 people are known to have died," he said.
7:41am: Traffic resumes over blast-hit Kerch bridge between Crimea and Russia
Traffic resumed Saturday over the Kerch bridge linking Russia with Crimea after it was damaged by an explosion Moscow blamed on a truck bomb.
The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge was hit by a blast around dawn on Saturday, killing three people, setting several oil tankers ablaze and collapsing two car lanes, Russian investigators said.
The explosion drew celebrations from Ukrainians and others on social media, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made no direct mention of it in his nightly address and officials made no claim of responsibility.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told reporters "traffic has been fully restored" on the bridge's railway, according to state news agency Ria Novosti, without specifying when operations resumed.
Khusnullin had confirmed the resumption is for "both freight and passenger traffic" in an earlier post on Telegram, and said one of the destroyed lanes would be restored "in the near future".
Limited road traffic resumed about 10 hours after Saturday’s blast, Reuters reported.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
