Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Russian forces control most of the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region said. * Russia is attacking food and agriculture targets in order to scare the world into agreeing a deal to reopen the Black Sea on Moscow's terms, the head of the region where a major agricultural storage facility was struck at the weekend said.

Ukrainian forces pulled back to the outskirts of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk on Wednesday in the face of a fierce Russian assault, another big swing in momentum in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday said defenders in the city of Sievierodonetsk were inflicting major losses on Russian troops during what he called a very fierce and very difficult battle. * Russian forces control most of the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region said.

* Russia is attacking food and agriculture targets in order to scare the world into agreeing a deal to reopen the Black Sea on Moscow's terms, the head of the region where a major agricultural storage facility was struck at the weekend said. * Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch next week a "Book of Executioners" to detail war crimes.

* Russia denies targeting civilians and has rejected allegations of war crimes. * Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine could face the death penalty after pleading guilty in a court of one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

* Over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the city of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, Russia's state-owned Tass news agency reported, citing a Russian law enforcement source. DIPLOMACY

* Turkey hosted Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for talks aimed at restarting the stalled Ukraine peace process and finding a way to reopen Ukrainian ports for shipments of grain. * Following the talks, Turkey said a proposed U.N. plan to reopen the Ukrainian ports was reasonable, but more negotiations were necessary.

* Lavrov said Ukraine would have to remove mines from its ports to allow them to reopen. * Lavrov said a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Zelenskiy could happen only after peace talks resume.

POLITICS * Russia's proxies in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia province announced plans to stage a referendum on joining Russia at an unspecified date later this year.

ECONOMY * Russian shelling destroyed the warehouses of one of Ukraine's largest agricultural commodity terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv at the weekend, the region head said.

* Ukraine could export a maximum of only two million tonnes of grain a month if Russia refuses to lift its blockade of the country's Black Sea ports, said Ukraine's first deputy minister for Agrarian Policy and Food. * The World Bank board has approved $1.49 billion of additional financing for Ukraine to help pay government and social workers' wages.

* Under heavy pressure from Western sanctions and airspace bans, Russian state airline Aeroflot said it planned to raise up to 185.2 billion roubles ($3 billion) in an emergency share sale. (Compiled by Himani Sarkar and Peter Graff)