CHICAGO, July 15 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures hit a six-week high on Wednesday, buoyed by soaring wheat prices amid escalating hostilities between Ukraine and Russia, traders said.

• Benchmark CBOT December corn CZ26 closed up 9 cents, or about 2%, at $4.69-1/2 per bushel after reaching $4.71, its highest level since June 2.

• The December corn contract settled above its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 1.

• Ukraine has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain via its vital Black Sea ports due to intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks, the country's main farmers' union said.

• Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone attacks have forced Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, to restrict shipping in the Sea of Azov, a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters.

• Wheat's climb overshadowed bearish weekly data on U.S. production of corn-based ethanol. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported ethanol production in the week to July 10 at 1.040 million barrels per day, down 53,000 bpd from the previous week and the lowest rate in two months.

• Weekly U.S. ethanol stockpiles rose to 24.391 million barrels, up 463,000 barrels from last week's six-month low. EIA/S

• Hot weather dominated the U.S. Corn Belt on Wednesday, threatening yield prospects, but temperatures were expected to moderate slightly next week, with increased rains.

• Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, analysts expected the government to report net export sales of U.S. old-crop corn in the week to July 9 at 500,000 to 1.1 million metric tons and new-crop sales of 300,000 to 1.1 million tons.