Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Ukraine's navy confirmed that work has started at three Ukrainian Black Sea ports to prepare for renewed grain exports. * State-controlled media outlet Russia Today lost its court fight against a European Union ban imposed in March over alleged disinformation, prompting the Kremlin to warn of retaliatory measures against Western media.

The fate of Ukraine's second biggest power plant hung in the balance after Russian-backed forces claimed to have captured it intact, but Kyiv did not confirm its seizure, saying only that fighting was underway nearby. ECONOMY, SANCTIONS

* Russia delivered less gas to Europe on Wednesday in a further escalation of an energy stand-off between Moscow and the European Union that will make it harder, and costlier, for the bloc to fill up storage ahead of the winter heating season. * Preparations are continuing for the first ships to leave Ukrainian ports under a landmark U.N. deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports, Turkey's defence minister said as he unveiled a centre in Istanbul to oversee the undertaking. Ukraine's navy confirmed that work has started at three Ukrainian Black Sea ports to prepare for renewed grain exports.

* State-controlled media outlet Russia Today lost its court fight against a European Union ban imposed in March over alleged disinformation, prompting the Kremlin to warn of retaliatory measures against Western media. * The EU decided to renew sanctions against Russia for a further six months, until the end of January 2023.

FIGHTING * At least one person was killed by a Russian strike on a Ukrainian hotel in the Donetsk region town of Bakhmut, local authorities said.

* Authorities in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson have shut its only bridge across the Dnipro river after it came under fire from U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), an official from the Russian-installed administration said. * Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces on July 24 had destroyed more than 100 U.S.-made HIMARS rockets in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Reuters was unable to independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.

QUOTE "The way back does not scare me. We can say that our excitement and hopes have been through the roof in the recent days." - Burak Kinayer, 19, trainee officer on a ship stranded for five months in a Black Sea port but now due to set sail after a deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports has been signed.