UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday (July 28) he was hopeful that the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port could take place as early as Friday, but "crucial" details for the safe passage of vessels are still being worked out.

Ukraine stepped up its drive to retake the Russian-controlled south of the country by trying to bomb and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-resupply areas, but warned that Moscow was redeploying its forces to defend the territory.

Ukraine said yesterday it had restarted operations at its blockaded Black Sea ports as it moved closer to resuming grain exports with the opening of a coordination centre to oversee a UN-backed deal.

Shipping companies are not rushing to export millions of tons of trapped grain out of Ukraine, despite a breakthrough deal to provide safe corridors through the Black Sea. That is because explosive mines are drifting in the waters, ship owners are assessing the risks and many still have questions over how the deal will unfold.

Ukraine said yesterday Russian forces had launched multiple missile strikes at targets on the Black Sea coast near the southern port city of Odessa and in Mykolaiv.

Russia yesterday brushed aside Western and Ukrainian alarm that a missile strike by its forces on Ukraine’s port of Odessa could derail a United Nations-brokered deal aimed at easing global food shortages by resuming grain exports from the Black Sea region.

Next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be staged in Britain, organizers announced Monday, after concluding it is too risky to hold the much-loved pop extravaganza in the designated host country, Ukraine.

In a village in northern Ukraine that was devastated by Russian occupation only months ago, a techno party is in full swing.

The missile’s impact flung the young woman against the fence so hard it splintered. Her mother found her dying on the bench beneath the pear tree where she’d enjoyed the afternoon. By the time her father arrived, she was gone.

Ukraine yesterday pressed ahead with efforts to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages but warned deliveries would suffer if Russia’s strike on Odessa was a sign of more to come.

Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s port of Odessa yesterday, in what Kyiv called a “spit in the face” of a day-old deal between the warring sides to resume cereal exports blocked by the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a ceasefire with Russia without reclaiming lost territories would only prolong the war, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Russia and Ukraine yesterday signed a landmark deal to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased.

Russia will not supply oil to countries that decide to impose a price cap on its oil, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told a briefing on Friday.

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements Friday with Turkey and the United Nations clearing the way for exporting millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain — as well as Russian grain and fertilizer — ending a wartime standoff that had threatened food security around the globe.

Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey said, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion can be eased.

Russian artillery strikes pounded Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv yesterday after Moscow announced it was expanding its war aims, even as Russian gas flows to Europe resumed through the Nord Stream pipeline.

Russia has already slashed Europe’s amounts of natural gas used to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes in the winter, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned they could keep dwindling.

Russia’s military aims in Ukraine are no longer focused “only” on the country’s east, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that supplies of Western weapons had changed the Kremlin’s calculus.

A senior Russian security official said yesterday that peace in Ukraine when it came would be on Moscow’s terms as Russian forces struck targets across the country with missiles even as their ground offensive stuttered.