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• The first ships to export Ukraine grain from the country's Black Sea ports may move within a few days under a deal agreed on Friday by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, a UN spokesperson said. 

• The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was optimistic about a UN-brokered deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports but warned the agreement alone will not solve the global food crisis even if it is implemented effectively. READ MORE BELOW

• The Kremlin said a Russian cruise missile strike against the port of Odesa in southern Ukraine will not affect the export of grain. 

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there are no barriers to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, and there was nothing in the shipment agreement signed by Russia to prevent it from continuing to attack military infrastructure in Ukraine.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the strike on Odesa as "Russian barbarism" and said it amounted to desperation after the warring sides struck a deal to release exports from the port.

• Ukraine has pressed ahead with efforts to restart grain shipments from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing grain exports, but said the weekend missile strike by Russian forces on Odesa underlined the risks to deliveries.

• The head of Russia's investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said Moscow had charged 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed an international tribunal backed by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria. READ MORE BELOW

• Global wheat prices have risen due to uncertainty over the grain agreement. The prices had dropped sharply on Friday as traders anticipated an easing of supply shortages that threaten to drive millions of people towards famine.

• Inconclusive fighting has continued in both the Donbas and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine, British military intelligence has said.

• Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had destroyed an ammunition depot for US-made HIMARS rocket systems in Bogdanovtsy, in Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi region.

• Ukraine's defense minister said 50 Russian ammunition depots had been destroyed by HIMARS rockets.

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IN DETAIL

Optimism and caution over Ukraine grain exports

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was optimistic about a U.N.-brokered deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports but warned the agreement alone will not solve the global food crisis even if it is implemented effectively.

Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey signed a deal on Friday aimed at allowing safe passage for ships going in and out of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that have been blocked by Russia since February 24.

Ukraine and Russia are major grains exporters and the port blockade has trapped tens of millions of tonnes of grain in the country. Along with Western sanctions on Russia, it has sent energy and food prices soaring, sparking protests in developing countries that depend on Black Sea grains.

The WFP itself has had to cut aid this year in key hunger hotspots like Yemen and South Sudan due to global inflation and critical funding gaps, both exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict.

"We're optimistic the deal could lead to improvements in global food prices. Countries dependent on grain supplies from the Black Sea would likely be the first to feel a positive impact," a WFP spokesperson told Reuters.

She added, however, that the current global food crisis is not a price crisis alone, and that man-made conflict, climate shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to keep food prices elevated even if Friday's deal holds, which is by no means a certainty.

Moscow charges 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity

The head of Russia's investigative committee said Moscow had charged 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed an international tribunal backed by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria.

The government's Rossiiskaya Gazeta quoted committee head Alexander Bastrykin as accusing "more than 220 persons, including representatives of the high command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as commanders of military units that shelled the civilian population."

The Ukrainians were involved in "crimes against the peace and security of humanity, which have no statute of limitations," he said. Bastrykin, whose committee probes major crimes, said 92 commanders and their subordinates had been charged, and 96 people, including 51 armed forces commanders, declared wanted.

The United States and more than 40 other countries agreed earlier in July to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine.

Bastrykin said 1,300 criminal investigations had been initiated into members of Ukraine's military, political leadership, radical nationalist associations, and armed formations, with more than 400 people so far held accountable.