Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine where two Britons and a Moroccan have been sentenced to death say the death penalty will start being used from 2025, according to an updated criminal code of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic. * The RIA news agency quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying on Friday that Russian forces had captured an oil refinery in the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk.

Russia rained missiles down near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday, Ukrainian officials said, hitting an apartment building and a resort and killing at least 18 people. Russia denied the accusation. FIGHTING

* The Kremlin denied targeting civilians. "I would like to remind you of the president's words that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. * Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine where two Britons and a Moroccan have been sentenced to death say the death penalty will start being used from 2025, according to an updated criminal code of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic.

* The RIA news agency quoted Russia's defense ministry as saying on Friday that Russian forces had captured an oil refinery in the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk. * Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

DIPLOMACY AND ECONOMY * Western nations have responded to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in part by targeting Russia's defense industry with sanctions. But a Reuters examination of companies, executives, and investors underpinning Russia's defense sector shows a sizable number of players have yet to pay a price.

* U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner went on trial in a court on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday to face drug charges that could see her face up to 10 years in prison. The case was brought after Russian authorities said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in Griner's luggage at a Moscow airport in February. * Russia's ambassador to Bulgaria said on Friday she would ask Moscow to close down its embassy in the Balkan country after her appeal for Sofia to reverse a decision to expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff was ignored.

* Ukraine has a "very clear European perspective" but the road to EU membership will take time and require hard work, the president of the EU executive told the country's parliament on Friday. * Turkey can re-export grain products from the Black Sea to countries in need after talks with Russia and Ukraine, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, adding he would discuss the matter with both countries in the coming days.

* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on Friday and discussed the state of global energy and food markets, Modi's office said in a statement, as India keeps buying Russian crude oil. QUOTES

* "Almost all the city infrastructure is destroyed. We are living without gas, electricity, and water since May," Sergei Oleinik, 65, a resident of Russian-occupied Sievierodonetsk, told Reuters. "We are glad that this ended, and soon maybe reconstruction will start, and we will be back to more or less normal life."