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French authorities say a beluga whale stranded for several days in the Seine River had to be euthanized after it was removed from the French waterway. The whale was being prepared for transfer to a saltwater port in Normandy. A veterinarian said Wednesday that the dangerously thin white mammal began to have breathing difficulties while it was being driven to the coast in a refrigerated truck. Experts decided the most humane thing to do was to euthanize the creature. Environmentalists had acknowledged the plan to move the beluga risked fatally stressing the mammal. But marine conservation group Sea Shepherd said the whale couldn’t have survived much longer in the Seine’s fresh water.

Ukraine’s air force says that nine Russian warplanes were destroyed in massive explosions at an air base in Crimea amid speculation they were the result of a Ukrainian attack. That would represent a significant escalation in the war. Russia denied any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday’s blasts — or that any attack took place. Ukrainian officials have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, while poking fun at Russia’s explanation that a careless smoker might have caused munitions at the Saki air base to catch fire and blow up. Analysts have also said that explanation doesn’t make sense and that the Ukrainians could have used anti-ship missiles to strike the base.