CHICAGO, July 15 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures surged 5% on Wednesday as Russia and Ukraine stepped up their battle over the Black Sea and key trade routes, traders said.

• Moscow killed three people in an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, and Kyiv's drone forces struck Russian shipping.

• 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 grain exporter, to restrict shipping in the Sea of Azov, a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters.

• CBOT September soft red winter wheat WU26 settled up 32-1/2 cents, or 5%, at $6.77-1/2 per bushel after reaching $6.82-3/4, the contract's highest since May 20.

• K.C. September hard red winter wheat KWU26 ended up 42 cents at $7.20 a bushel after rising by the daily 45-cent limit at times to $7.23, the contract's highest since May 19.

• Minneapolis September spring wheat MWEU26 rose 25-1/4 cents to finish at $6.83-1/4 a bushel.

• Managed commodity funds hold a large net short position in CBOT wheat futures, leaving the market vulnerable to short-covering rallies.

• France's farm ministry forecast the country's 2026 soft wheat production at 32.0 million metric tons, down 4% from last year. Crop conditions deteriorated at the end of the growing cycle after successive heat waves, the ministry said.

• 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. wheat in the week ended July 9 at 250,000 to 600,000 metric tons.