TOP HEADLINES

• Russian drone strikes overnight damaged grain silos and warehouses at the Ukrainian river port of Reni on the Danube, an important route for Ukrainian food exports amid the conflict. Attacks on port infrastructure along the river have piled pressure on Ukraine's exports following the breakdown of a deal that had allowed Kyiv to ship out grain via the Black Sea.

• However, Kyiv says the first cargo ship to use its new Black Sea shipping lanes - necessitated by the deal's collapse - had exited Ukraine's southern port of Odesa despite the potential of Russian attack. Ukraine last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports amid the conflict. READ MORE BELOW

• One person was killed and two others injured by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian border region of Belgorod, its governor announced on Wednesday, while Russia's defense ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital.

• Ukrainian forces claim to have recaptured the southeast village of Urozhaine as fierce fighting continues in and around a cluster of small rural settlements that Kyiv has declared liberated since early June. Moscow hasn't commented on the announcement, but a Pro-Russian politician said that there had "never been such dense fire from the sky raining down... on the Zaporozhye battle front."

• Carlsberg's CEO said it was "shocked" by Russia's seizure of its business in the country and the brewer is no closer to knowing what might happen next. Moscow took control of the Danish group's eight breweries and 8,400 employees in the country last month, shortly after Carlsberg agreed to sell the unit to an undisclosed buyer.

• The U.S. is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader unwritten understanding between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions, the Financial Times has reported. The news comes as Washington and Iran are trying to ease tensions and revive broader talks over Iran's nuclear program. 

IN DETAIL

Hong-Kong ship tests new Black Sea corridor

A Hong-Kong flagged container ship set off from Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday, the first cargo ship to use new Black Sea shipping lanes despite threats from Russia that its navy could target vessels leaving the country.

Kyiv announced the maritime corridors for civilian vessels last week after Russia exited an agreement allowing safe sea passage for grain exports and said that it could target cargo ships in the Black Sea. 

"The first vessel is moving along the temporary corridors established for civilian vessels to and from Black Sea ports," Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement. 

It said the vessel - the Hong Kong-registered Joseph Schulte which had been in Odesa since the day before Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine - had left the port, one of three transit hubs that participated in the now scrapped grain deal.

"Ukraine proposed this route in its appeal to the International Maritime Organisation," Kubrakov said.

"The corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships that were in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny at the time of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation," he added.

The Russian defense ministry had warned that, effective 20 July, all ships moving along the Black Sea to Ukrainian seaports would be viewed as potentially carrying military cargos. 

"Given that the Black Sea [grain deal] initiative has come to an end and the maritime humanitarian corridor has been terminated, all ships traversing the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports shall be viewed as potential carriers of military-purpose cargos," the ministry said.

Over the weekend, Moscow said it fired warning shots from a Russian warship at a cargo vessel heading towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail after the ship's captain had failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection. 

Attacks have increased on both sides of the Black Sea since Moscow exited the agreement allowing Ukrainian food exports via its ports.

Türkiye, which brokered the grain deal alongside the United Nations, has expressed hope that Russia will rejoin it this month.

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