Russian President Vladimir Putin's intention to show up in person at the upcoming G20 Summit in Bali has stoked fears of renewed pushback from Western member states.

As Widuchowa's residents searched for tools to remove the lifeless bodies from the the river, the government began crisis response that many scientists say came too late.

"Russia has no moral right to sit at the G20 while its aggression in Ukraine persists," the spokesperson said.

A flare-up in fighting around Europe's largest nuclear facility in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine has sparked urgent warnings from world leaders, and UN chief Antonio Guterres cautioned during talks with Erdogan that any damage to the plant would be akin to "suicide".

The MV Brave Commander left the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi and will sail to Djibouti "for delivery to Ethiopia", the infrastructure ministry said on Telegram.

"The flat halting of Russian visas by all EU member states could be another very effective sanction," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement obtained by AFP.

Following a dry winter, the summer heatwaves hitting Europe have been catastrophic for the Alpine glaciers, which have been melting at an accelerated rate.

Overnight strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine killed 13 people and injured 11, with five reported to be in a serious condition, regional governor Valentin Reznichenko wrote on Telegram.

"I think that, in the end, I will be present myself as a candidate for the Senate, so that all these people who asked me will finally be happy," the 85-year-old billionaire and media mogul told Rai radio.

Rescue divers overnight guided the whale into a net before a crane lifted it from the river in an operation which lasted six hours. It was then transported in a refrigerated truck to the Channel port of Ouistreham.

Commonly known as 'forever chemicals' because they disintegrate extremely slowly, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) were initially found in packaging, shampoo or makeup but have spread to our entire environment, including water and air.

It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and was occupied by Russia early in its invasion. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other for attacks on the plant last week.

The Zaporizhzhia power plant in southeast Ukraine was occupied by Russia early in its invasion. Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the attacks on the plant last week.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the shelling of the plant was "extremely dangerous".

"Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing," Guterres told a news conference in Japan, where he attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on Saturday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's office has set up a crisis team to tackle a drought that has forced scores of villages to rely on water deliveries by truck, prompted state-run utility EDF to curb nuclear power output and stressed crops.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what President Vladimir Putin termed a "special military operation", the conflict has settled into a war of attrition fought largely in Ukraine's east and south.

In an interview with SCMP, the Ukrainian leader urged China to use its outsize political and economic influence over Russia to bring an end to the fighting.

The first grain-carrying ship to leave Ukrainian ports in wartime safely anchored off Turkey's coast on Tuesday and is due to be inspected on Wednesday. 

At the opening of a key nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York, Guterres warned that the world faced "a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War."

Ukraine's foreign minister called it "a day of relief for the world", especially for countries threatened by food shortages and hunger because of the disrupted shipments.

It would be a historic landmark, if the Hindu descendant of immigrants from Britain's old empire in India and East Africa were to take command of the world's fifth largest economy.

"With the continued spread of monkeypox in Europe, we will expect to see more deaths," Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO Europe, said in a statement.

"If all (details) are completed by tomorrow, it seems like there is a high possibility that the first ship will leave the port tomorrow...We will see ships leaving the ports the next day at the latest," Kalin said.

The meeting will be seen as the latest step in the readmission of the de-facto ruler of the kingdom into the international fold, after US President Joe Biden met the man universally known as MBS earlier this month.

WHO Europe has forecast just over 27,000 monkeypox cases in 88 countries by Aug. 2, up from 17,800 cases in nearly 70 countries at the latest count. 

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Braun said the government so far had opened about 100 vaccination centres for monkeypox and that more than 6,000 people have received a preventive vaccination.

"We must not let ourselves be divided, we must not let the great work of a united Europe that we have begun so promisingly be destroyed," he said in a speech in the western German city of Paderborn.

The Ukrainian military said its air defences had shot down two cruise missiles but two more hit the port Saturday, threatening the landmark agreement hammered out over months of negotiations aimed at relieving a global food crisis.