Latest Developments in Ukraine: Oct. 14

For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

2:13 a.m.: Agence France-Presse, citing a source close to the case, reported that French energy giant TotalEnergies is facing legal action for “complicity in war crimes” for allegedly helping fuel Russian planes that have bombed Ukraine.

1:20 a.m.: Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told Russia’s State TV Channel One on Thursday that a big section of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines might need to be replaced, TASS news agency said, according to Reuters. A section of the pipeline was now filled with water across a significant distance, TASS paraphrased Miller as saying, in a series of bullet points on the agency’s Telegram channel.

Separately, Prime news agency paraphrased Miller as saying the affected length covered hundreds of kilometers on the Russian side of the pipeline.

On Wednesday, Miller, head of the Russian state-controlled natural gas monopoly, said repairs to the damaged Nord Stream pipelines would take at least a year.

12:02 a.m.: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended decisions made during her time in power to buy natural gas from Russia, The Associated Press reported.

“You always act in the time you are in,” Merkel said Thursday, adding she doesn’t regret decisions she made. She said that it was clear that Germany needed to diversify its energy supplies as it moved away from nuclear and coal-fueled power generation and that gas would be needed for the transitional period.

Merkel said that “from the perspective of that time, it was very rational and understandable to get pipeline gas, including from Russia, that was cheaper than LNG from other parts of the world.”

But the former German leader said that Russia’s “brutal attack” on Ukraine is “a turning point, and the new government of course has to deal with that and it is doing so.”

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.