Europe

KYIV, July 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine can save 200 billion hryvnias ($5.45 billion) for priority needs by deferring its external debt repayments, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.

Ukraine has launched a formal consent solicitation to holders of its international bonds, proposing a two-year debt freeze on most of its bonds and giving creditors until August 9 to vote on the proposal.

MOSCOW, July 26 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it believes former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is in Moscow, and did not rule out possible contact with him.

"As far as we know, he is in Moscow," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if the Kremlin was aware of reports that Schroeder had travelled to Moscow on Tuesday.

"There is no meeting as such, but we do not rule out possible contact," Peskov added.

KYIV, July 26 (Reuters) - Russia said it will cut gas supplies to Europe from Wednesday in a blow to countries that have backed Ukraine, while missile attacks in Black Sea coastal regions raised doubts about whether Russia will stick to a deal to let Ukraine export grain.

The first ships from Ukraine may set sail in days under a deal agreed on Friday, the United Nations said, despite a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port of Odesa over the weekend, and a spokesman for the military administration in the saying another missile had hit the Odesa region on Tuesday morning.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia on Tuesday opened a long-awaited bridge connecting two parts of the country’s Adriatic Sea coastline while bypassing a small sliver of Bosnia’s territory.

Braving summer heat, many Croats rushed early on Tuesday to be among the first to cross the Peljesac bridge on foot as it opened for pedestrians ahead of the formal opening ceremony planned in the evening. It was to open to road traffic after the ceremony.

KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — The drug trial of American basketball star Brittney Griner in a Russian court focused Tuesday on testimony that cannabis, while illegal in Russia, is regarded in other countries as having legitimate medicinal use.

Griner has acknowledged that she was carrying vape canisters containing cannabis oil when she was arrested in February at a Moscow airport, but she contends that she had no criminal intent and that the canisters ended up in her luggage inadvertently because of hasty packing.

DONETSK REGION (AP) — All over the Donetsk region, close to the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nataliia Voronkova turns up at Ukrainian field positions and hospitals wearing high heels. A colleague bought her running shoes, but Voronkova gave them away.

A helmet and a protective vest aren’t part of her uniform, either, as she distributes first-aid kits and other equipment to Ukrainian soldiers and paramedics. She is a civilian, the founder of a medical non-profit, and looking like one is something no one can take from her, even in a combat zone.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s new space chief said Tuesday amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.

Yuri Borisov, appointed this month to lead the state space agency, Roscosmos, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to its partners before it leaves.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union governments agreed Tuesday to ration natural gas this winter to protect themselves against any further supply cuts by Russia as Moscow pursues its invasion of Ukraine.

EU energy ministers approved a draft European law meant to lower demand for gas by 15% from August through March. The new legislation entails voluntary national steps to reduce gas consumption and, if they yield insufficient savings, a trigger for mandatory moves in the 27-member bloc.

MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/: The United Kingdom will host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement on Monday.

"The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC are pleased to confirm that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in the United Kingdom on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine," the statement reads.

BERLIN, July 25. /TASS/: Europe should prepare for a complete stop of Russian gas supplies in conditions when they are declining, President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with DPA news agency.

"Russia is supplying in part or do not supply gas at all to 12 [EU] member-states at present," von der Leyen said. "Therefore, Europe must be prepared for the worst option: the complete halt of gas supplies sooner or later," she said.