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 fighters were holding out in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk despite relentless Russian shelling, the regional governor said, as Moscow presses an assault that both sides believe could help shape the war's course. 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 Cynthia Osterman)