Ukraine updates: IAEA in Russia to ease Zaporizhzhia fears

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi met with the director of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom on Friday to discuss the conditions at the the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that "the occupier is planning a radiation catastrophe."

The potential for a life-threatening release of radiation at Europe's largest nuclear power station has been a concern ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year and seized the plant.

The head of the UN's atomic energy agency spent months unsuccessfully trying to negotiate for a safety perimeter to protect the plant as nearby areas were shelled.

"Timely meeting in Kaliningrad with Russian officials after the establishment of the 5 principles of nuclear safety & security at the UNSC [United Nations Security Council], & my recent visit to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to assess damage of the Kakhovka dam explosion," Grossi tweeted on Friday.

"We expect concrete steps from the IAEA aimed at preventing strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, both on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and on adjacent territory and critical infrastructure facilities," Rosatom quoted its chief, Alexey Likachev, as saying in a statement.

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

Prigozhin accuses Russian military of attacking Wagner forces

The head of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, sharply criticized Moscow's military leadership on Friday.

In a series of irate audio messages posted to Telegram, he accused Russian military leaders of ordering strikes on Wagner Group camps, resulting in the deaths of a "huge" number of forces.

"Today, seeing that we have not been broken, they conducted missile strikes at our rear camps," Prigozhin said.

He did not elaborate on the claims.

Prigozhin went on to describe Russian military leadership as "evil" and vowed retaliation.

Russia's Defense Ministry promptly denied the accusations, saying that the Wagner chief's claims "do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation."

Ukraine claims Russia hiding dam breach dead

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 overnight address.

"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.

Russian officials put the death toll at 46.

Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the breach of the dam

Kremlin hits back at Macron's accusations over Russia's Africa motives

The Kremlin on Friday rejected comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia was playing a "destabilizing role" in Africa with its deployment of "private militias who come to prey on and commit abuses on civilian populations" there.

"Russia is developing friendly, constructive relations based on mutual respect and concern for each other's problems," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Our relations with all African countries are not directed — and cannot be directed — against third countries," he added.

Russia responds to EU sanctions with travel bans

The Kremlin said Friday it was increasing its list of people banned from visiting Russia in response to an 11th batch of European Union sanctions.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that its expanded list included security officials, civil servants, businesspeople and members of the European Parliament.

Russia keep nuclear plans in Belarus under wraps

Russia will not disclose any specifics about its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus, the Interfax news agency has quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

Meanwhile, according to the state news agency TASS, Ryabkov also said Moscow had no plans to disclose information to the United States about tests of its nuclear-powered underwater drone — Poseidon — because it does not fall under verification agreements.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had already placed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, adding they would only be used if Russia was threatened.

EU sanctions take effect

The European Union formally adopted on Friday its 11th sanctions package against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The fresh sanctions focus on preventing Moscow from circumventing existing measures.

Wagner leader says Russia 'retreating' from Ukrainian attacks

Russian forces are retreating in eastern and southern Ukraine, according to the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group.

"On the ground now ... the Russian army is retreating on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are pushing back the Russian army," Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media on Friday. "We are washing ourselves in blood. No one is bringing reserves. What they tell us is the deepest deception."

His statement contradicts those made by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Kyiv was suffering "catastrophic" losses.

Wagner Group fighters, bolstered by tens of thousands of prison recruits, played a central role in Russia's capture of the Donetsk region town, Bakhmut, the longest and likely bloodiest battle of the conflict.

Ukraine says downed 13 cruise missiles amid gains in the south

Ukraine halted a Russian offensive towards the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman in the east of the country, and are making progress in the south, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television on Friday.

"We had very fierce battles in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions, but our soldiers stopped the enemy there."

Meanwhile, Ukraine's air defense forces said Friday that they had downed 13 Russian cruise missiles targeting an airfield overnight.

The missiles were headed towards a military airfield in the western Khmelnitskyi region, Ukraine's Air Force said in its statement.

"Thirteen of the occupiers' cruise missiles were destroyed on June 23.... This time the attack was aimed at a military airfield in the Khmelnytskyi region," the air force said on social media.

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.  

Ukraine's Naftogaz files motion in US against Russia over Crimea compensation

Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz has taken legal action in the United States against Moscow to recover $5 billion (about €4.5 billion) awarded in The Hague as compensation for damages and lost property in Crimea. 

The company said on Friday that it had filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, adding that it had the right to do so as the United States is among the nations hosting Russian assets.

"Since Russia has not voluntarily paid the funds to Naftogaz as provided for by the award, we intend to leverage all available mechanisms to recover these funds," Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said in a statement.

In April, Naftogaz had said that an arbitration court in The Hague had ordered Russia to pay $5 billion in compensation for unlawfully expropriating the company's assets in Crimea.

Naftogaz's Crimean assets included Chornomornaftogaz, which produced large amounts of gas from the Black Sea.

In response to the charges, the Kremlin said on Friday it would examine ways to protect its legal rights.

Russia says it detained cesium smugglers working for Ukrainian national

Russia's FSB security service said on Friday that it had detained five people who were trying to purchase 1 kilogram of radioactive cesium-137 for $3.5 million (3.2 million euros) on behalf of a citizen of Ukraine, TASS news agency said in a report.

The report cited the FSB as saying that the cesium-137 was to be taken out of Russia and used to stage an incident with purported weapons of mass destruction with the aim of discrediting Russia.

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. 

jsi, dvv/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)