TOP HEADLINES

• Three Russian missiles hit the center of Vinnytsia, killing 12 people including a young child and wounding 25, the State Emergency Service said.

• Ukrainian forces hit two military checkpoints and a landing pad in the second strike this week on a Russian-held area in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said. The new attack on Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region killed 13 "occupiers", Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration, quoted the Operational Command South as saying. Russia's defense ministry did not immediately comment.

• Russian and proxy forces have entered the town of Siversk in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Russian state news agency TASS reported. Ukraine's armed forces said Russia had not conducted any new assaults on the frontline that includes Siversk, but that the town had been fired upon by artillery.

• Russia and Ukraine made substantive progress in their first direct talks since March on a deal to relieve a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain exports. The high-stakes meeting involving UN and Turkish officials in Istanbul broke up after slightly more than three hours, with an agreement to meet again in Turkey next week. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's foreign ministry attacked the United States and Britain for helping train Ukraine's armed forces, calling it part of "hybrid warfare" being waged by NATO countries against Russia.

• ​​Kyiv said it was severing relations with Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as Pyongyang confirmed it was formally recognizing two self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine. DPRK's recognition of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic came after another Russian ally, Syria, made the same move last month.

• Ukraine accused Russia of spreading propaganda about the proliferation of illegal arms smuggling resulting from Moscow's offensive and said it was closely monitoring the delivery of Western-supplied weapons to frontlines. "All the weapons received by Ukraine, including long-range ones, are carefully accounted (for) and sent to the frontline," said Ukraine presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak.

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russia's offensive in Ukraine posed the "greatest challenge" to the global economy, as G20 ministers prepare to start talks in Indonesia. She also said Russian officials had no place at this week's meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

• Ukraine's top war crimes prosecutor and European judicial authorities met to coordinate investigations into atrocities during Russia's offensive in Ukraine, warning that a failure to do so would embolden autocrats. With more than 20,000 war crimes investigations open and different countries heading teams, evidence needs to be credible and organized, officials said. 

• A report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest security body, expressed "grave concern" about alleged mistreatment of tens of thousands of Ukrainians at so-called filtration centers set up by Russia in Ukraine. "There are reports indicating that people are subject to harsh interrogations and humiliating body searches in such centers," said the 115-page report, calling the setting up of such centers an "alarming" development. READ MORE BELOW

• Lithuania will keep restrictions on Kaliningrad trade in place while it works out rules on how to resume trade, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said. The EU executive said on Wednesday that sanctioned Russian goods could transit through the bloc's territory by rail.

• Hungary declared a "state of danger" due to the energy crisis ignited by Russia's offensive in Ukraine and announced a seven-point plan to tackle it. The new plan would come into effect in August, and the government will step up domestic natural gas production from 1.5 to 2.0 billion cubic meters, while seeking other sources of gas.

IN DETAIL

'Harsh interrogations and humiliating body searches'

A report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest security body, expressed "grave concern" about alleged mistreatment of tens of thousands of Ukrainians at so-called filtration centers set up by Russia in Ukraine.

"There are reports indicating that people are subject to harsh interrogations and humiliating body searches in such centers," said the 115-page report, calling the setting up of such centers an "alarming" development.

It added those found to have collaborated with Kyiv "often simply disappear" with some being allegedly transfered to Russian controlled territories, where they are detained or even murdered.

The report is based on a mission of three experts named by the OSCE covering the Ukraine war from April 1 to June 25.

It was the second OSCE mission following a similar one covering the period from the start of the conflict on February 24 to April 1.

The report said targeted killing, rape, abductions and massive deportations of civilians had been repeatedly documented during the conflict.

"The second mission is... gravely concerned by the mistreatment to which Ukrainian civilians are purportedly subject in the so-called filtration centers," the report noted.

Tens of thousands of civilians are brought to these centers in the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine before being deported to Russia, according to Kyiv and humanitarian organizations, the report said.

Progress in grain export talks but a deal 'not yet fully done'

Russia and Ukraine made substantive progress in their first direct talks since March on a deal to relieve a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain exports.

The high-stakes meeting involving UN and Turkish officials in Istanbul broke up after slightly more than three hours with an agreement to meet again in Turkey next week.

Ukraine is a vital exporter of wheat and grains such as barley and maize, and has supplied nearly half of all the sunflower oil traded on global markets, but shipments have been disrupted since Russia began its military campaign in February.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the talks had provided a "ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world" but cautioned that while he was optimistic, a deal was "not yet fully done."

Turkey's defense minister signaled that a final agreement could be announced at the next talks.

"At this meeting, which we will hold next week, all the details will be reviewed once again and the work we have done will be signed," Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

Shipments across the Black Sea have been blocked both by Russian warships and mines Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.