Ukraine pressed ahead with efforts to restart grain exports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages, but warned deliveries would suffer if a Russian missile strike on Odesa was a sign of more to come.

DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY

* President Zelenskiy said Russian missile strikes on Odesa were blatant "barbarism" that showed Moscow could not be trusted to implement the grain deal.

* The United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the strikes.

* Russia said its forces had hit a Ukrainian warship and a weapons store in Odesa with high-precision missiles.

* Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov offered reassurances over Russian grain supplies to Egypt during a visit to Cairo.

* Ukraine could export 60 million tonnes of grain in eight to nine months if its ports were not blockaded, an economic adviser to the Ukrainian president said.

* Pope Francis said he yearned to visit Ukraine, in his efforts to try and bring an end to the five-month-old war.

FIGHTING

* As Ukraine prepares for its national day on July 28, Zelenskiy said: "We will celebrate against all odds because Ukrainians won't be cowed."

* Ukraine's health ministry said at least 18 medical personnel had been killed and nearly 900 medical facilities damaged or destroyed by Russia's invasion.

* Ukraine's military reported Russian shelling in the north, south and east, and again referred to Russian operations paving the way for an assault on Bakhmut in the Donbas.

* Ukraine's air force command said its forces had shot down three Russian Kalibr cruise missiles aimed at the western Khmelnytskiy region.

* Ukraine's military said its forces had moved within range of targets in the Black Sea region of Kherson where Kyiv is mounting a counter-offensive. Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

Reuters