Europe

KYIV, July 18 (Reuters) - Russia struck Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, a day after pulling out of a U.N.-backed deal to let Kyiv export grain, and Moscow claimed gains on the ground in an area where Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were going back on the offensive.

Russia said it hit fuel storage in Odesa and a plant making seaborne drones there, as part of "mass revenge strikes" in retaliation for attacks by Ukraine that knocked out its road bridge to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

WARSAW, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed, and five others were injured after a Cessna plane crashed into an airfield hangar in central Poland on Monday evening.

In the city of Chrcynno, the plane "hit the hangar where people were sheltering," Andrzej Bartkowiak, chief commandant of the State Fire Service in Poland, said on social media, confirming the casualties.

He also said the plane was landing in bad weather, which might have led to the accident.

LOUTRAKI, Greece (AP) — Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kph (45 mph).

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s general election on Sunday could make the country the latest European Union member swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (“United We Can”), took a beating in local and regional elections.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces shot down scores of exploding drones and six cruise missiles from a pre-dawn Russian attack on the port of Odesa on Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities said, a day after Moscow broke off a deal that had allowed Kyiv to ship vital grain supplies from the Black Sea city during the war.

The Russians first sought to wear down Ukraine’s air defenses with the drones and then targeted Odesa with six Kalibr cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said.

17 July 2023; MEMO: Russia, on Monday, suspended the Black Sea grain deal, the Kremlin said, Anadolu Agency reports.

17 July 2023; MEMO: Insurers are reviewing whether to freeze cover for any ships willing to sail to Ukraine after Russia, on Monday, quit a UN-backed deal that allows the export of grain through a wartime Black Sea safe corridor, industry sources said, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: The Black Sea agreements have been effectively terminated on Monday - the part of the deal concerning Russia has not been fulfilled, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"The Black Sea agreements are no longer in effect. The deadline, as the Russian president said earlier, is July 17. Unfortunately, the part of the Black Sea agreement that concerns Russia has not yet been fulfilled. As a result, it has been terminated," he said.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: The Kiev regime’s attack on the Crimean Bridge will not be left unanswered, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Monday.

"Naturally, Russia’s response will follow. The defense ministry is working on relevant proposals," he said at a government meeting on the situation around the Crimean Bridge.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: Russia is expecting the international community to make an appropriate assessment of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, which is a purely civilian facility. We expect that the international community and specialized multilateral structures will be principled and render a proper assessment of this latest crime perpetrated by the Ukrainian authorities," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.