Ukraine updates: Russia is hiding bodies of victims of Kakhovka dam breach, claims Zelenskyy

Russia has formed special groups to collect and hide the bodies of people who died following the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine's south, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Thursday.

"The Russian evil has formed special groups there to remove and, obviously, hide the victims' bodies," Zelenskyy said.

He added that the situation in the Russian-occupied parts of the region was "catastrophic, to put it mildly."

The destruction of the dam unleashed flooding across large parts of the battleground.

Farmland was destroyed and the water supply to civilians was cut.

Ukrainian authorities have put the number of fatalities at 21, including five people who died from what they described as Russian shelling during evacuation.

While Russian officials put the death toll at 46.

Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for being behind the breach.

Here are some of the other developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Friday, June 23:

UN blacklists Russian forces over deaths of Ukrainian children: reports

The United Nations has put Russian forces and affiliated armed groups on its "list of shame" over the killings of children in Russia's war in Ukraine, news agencies reported on Thursday, citing documents reporters had seen. 

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an annual report to the Security Council that he was "appalled" by the high number of "grave violations" against children in Ukraine in 2022.

"I am particularly shocked by the high number of attacks on schools and hospitals and protected personnel, and by the high number of children killed and maimed attributed to the Russian forces and affiliated armed groups," Guterres said.

The UN chief said Russian forces and proxy armed groups were listed for carrying out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals, and for killing children, mainly through their shelling and air strikes on towns and cities. 

As per the report, 136 Ukrainian children were killed, while 518 others were injured.

The report is scheduled for a public release next week.  

Kyiv says Moscow considering nuclear plant 'terror' attack, Russia denies

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that as per information received by Ukrainian spies, Russia was considering carrying out a "terrorist" attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant involving a release of radiation.

"Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — a terrorist act with the release of radiation," he said in a video statement on Telegram. 

"They have prepared everything for this."

Zelenskyy did not say what evidence the intelligence agencies based their assertion on.

Moscow has denied the Ukrainian leader's allegation, calling it  "another lie" and saying that a team of UN nuclear inspectors had been to the plant and rated everything highly.

Following a meeting of security chiefs and diplomats, Zelenskyy urged pressure on the Kremlin to end its occupation of the plant, which was seized by Russian forces days into the invasion that began in February 2022. 

EU says Ukraine progressing on reforms and on track to membership talks

The European Union said on Thursday that Ukraine was staying the course towards unlocking membership talks with the bloc, despite the war. 

"They are on track, they are working hard. After all, the country is under attack," the European Commissioner for relations with the EU's neighbors, Oliver Varhelyi, said. 

"Compared to that, I think that they are delivering."

In an interim report addressing only part of the changes the nation needs to make to start talks, Varhelyi said Kyiv had "completed" two of seven steps on judicial governance and media freedom and that "good progress” had been made on constitutional court reform.

However, he added that only "some progress" had been made on tackling corruption, money laundering and the system of oligarchs, and dealing with minority groups it still needed to address.

A full report on Ukraine's progress toward starting membership talks is slated for October.