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Russia struck Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, a day after pulling out of a United Nations.-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 described a wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s ports as “mass revenge strikes” in retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian seaborne drones that knocked out its road bridge to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Shortly after the bridge was hit on Monday, Moscow withdrew from a year-old U.N. brokered grain export deal, a move the United Nations said risked creating hunger around the world.

Falling debris and blast waves damaged several homes and unspecified port infrastructure in Russia’s main port, Odesa, according to Ukraine’s southern operational military command.

Local authorities in Mykolaiv, another port, described a serious fire there. A part of a Russian cruise missile Kalibr is seen inside a building damaged during a Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine July 18, 2023. via REUTERS

The Russian attacks on ports provide “further proof that the country-terrorist wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports”, said Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential staff.

Ukraine’s air force said six Kalibr missiles and 31 out of 36 drones were shot down.

Moscow, for its part, said it had foiled a Ukrainian drone strike on Crimea, with no major damage on the ground, and had reopened a single lane of road traffic on the Crimea bridge. Turkish-flagged bulker TQ Samsun, carrying grain under UN’s Black Sea Grain Initiative, transits Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey on July 18, 2023. REUTERS

Six weeks since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the east and south, Russia is mounting a ground offensive of its own in the northeast.

Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had advanced 2 km (1.24 miles) in the vicinity of Kupiansk, a frontline railway hub recaptured by Ukraine in an offensive last year. Kyiv acknowledged heavy fighting in the area and said Russia was making a major push there. Reuters could not independently verify the situation.

Since Ukraine began its counteroffensive last month, Kyiv has recaptured some villages in the south and territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east but has yet to attempt a major breakthrough across heavily defended Russian lines. ‘A BLOW TO PEOPLE IN NEED’

The Black Sea grain export deal brokered a year ago by Turkey and the United Nations was one of the only diplomatic successes of the war, lifting a de facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and heading off a global food emergency.

Ukraine and Russia are both among the world’s biggest exporters of grain and other foodstuffs.

If Ukrainian grain is again blocked from the market, prices could soar around the world, hitting the poorest countries hardest.

“Today’s decision by the Russian Federation will strike a blow to people in need everywhere,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday. A view shows a building damaged during a Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine on July 18, 2023. via REUTERS

Russia says it could return to the grain deal, but only if its demands are met for rules to be eased for its own exports of food and fertilizer.

Western countries call that an attempt to use leverage over food supplies to force a weakening in financial sanctions, which already provide exceptions to allow Russia to sell food.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the grain deal to continue without Russia’s participation, effectively seeking Turkey’s backing to negate the Russian blockade. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the grain deal to continue without Russia’s participation. AFP via Getty Images

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the deal’s sponsor, says he thinks Moscow can be persuaded to return.

Any attempt to reopen Ukrainian grain shipments without Russia’s participation would probably depend on insurance companies agreeing to provide coverage. Industry sources have told Reuters they are considering the implications.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said attempting to export grain from Ukraine without Russian security guarantees would carry risks, and said Ukraine used the waters for military activities. SLOW COUNTEROFFENSIVE see also Russian soldier ‘lost his grip,’ shot at comrades before being killed, Ukrainian intelligence says

Russia’s claim on Tuesday to have advanced around Kupiansk was a rare signal of Moscow attempting to go back on the offensive since Kyiv launched its counteroffensive last month.

Both sides have endured bitter losses in Europe’s bloodiest combat since World War Two, yet front lines have moved only incrementally since last November, despite a massive Russian winter offensive followed by Ukraine’s counterassault.

“For two days running, the enemy has been actively on the offensive in the Kupiansk sector in Kharkiv region,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram.

“We are defending. Heavy fighting is going on and the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day.”

Oleksander Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, described the situation in that area as “complicated but under control.”

Serhiy Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern grouping of forces, said the Russian military had amassed more than 100,000 troops and more than 900 tanks in the area.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made limited gains near Bakhmut and along two major axes in the south, but its assault force equipped with billions of dollars worth of new Western weapons and ammunition has yet to confront the main Russian defensive line.

Kyiv says it is deliberately advancing slowly to avoid high casualties on fortified defensive lines strewn with landmines and is focused for now on degrading Russia’s logistics and command.

Moscow says the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed.

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

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Willie Mays’ personal collection going to auction

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Willie Mays' personal collection going to auction

The personal collection of Willie Mays, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to the Hall of Famer by President Barack Obama, will head to auction via Hunt Auctions on Sept. 27-28 in San Francisco.

“Per Mays’ wishes, all proceeds from this auction will go to delivering education, training, and health services for youth through the Say Hey! Foundation which Willie Mays founded in 2000,” Hunt Auctions said in a statement.

Other items to be auctioned include Mays’ 1954 New York Giants World Series ring, his 1954 and 1965 NL MVP Awards, his Baseball Hall of Fame induction ring and his 1962 home San Francisco Giants uniform — photo-matched to that year’s MLB All-Star Game and two other games from that season.

There’s also a 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI, custom made for Mays.

“We are deeply humbled and grateful to Willie Mays for having been selected to represent this important offering of his personal collection,” said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, who also handled the auctioning of Bill Russell’s and Bill Walton’s personal collections.

“For all of his extraordinary achievements as a baseball player, Willie Mays wanted his enduring legacy to be helping children,” Jeff Bleich, Mays’ friend and the chair of the Say Hey! Foundation, said in a statement.

The collection’s first public display will be at the 2025 National Sports Collectors Convention, held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, from July 30 through Aug. 3.

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