Ukraine updates: Ukraine 'damages' key Crimea bridge

Ukrainian forces have carried out a missile attack on a bridge connecting Ukraine's Kherson region and Crimea, Russia-appointed officials in both regions said on Thursday.

The Chonhar bridge, which connects Russian-held parts of the Kherson region with the Crimean peninsula, was struck, the officials said, adding that traffic was diverted to another route. 

Russia's Investigative Committee said four missiles had been fired at the bridge by Ukrainian forces.

The Russia-appointed governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the bridge was likely to have been attacked by Storm Shadow missiles that damaged the road. He added that no casualties were reported. 

Crimea's governor, Sergey Aksenov, said specialists were probing the site to see when traffic over the bridge could resume.

Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, years ahead of the full-scale invasion it launched in 2022. 

Here are some of the other developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday, June 22:

Hundreds of children killed in 2022, UN says

The United Nations accused Russia of killing 136 children last year during its invasion of Ukraine, German news agency DPA reported.

The report, yet to be released officially, also stated that some 80 children were killed by Ukrainian troops as a result of being caught in the crossfire between Ukrainian and Russia forces.

A total of 477 children were killed last year in the fighting, the report said. The deaths of the remaining children on the list could not be attributed with any certainty to either forces.

Many of the children were killed in air strikes.

Scholz urges NATO summit to focus on boosting Ukraine fighting strength

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on NATO leaders meeting in Vilnius in July to focus on bolstering Ukraine's fighting capacity during its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia.

"We should look soberly at the current situation," Scholz told lawmakers in Berlin on Thursday, adding that Kyiv "has itself said that a NATO membership is not in the question while Russia is carrying out its war against Ukraine."

"That's why I am putting forward that we focus in Vilnius on what is now an absolute priority — that is, to strengthen the fighting power of Ukraine."

NATO's member nations are wrangling over what to offer Kyiv when the alliance's leaders hold a meeting in Vilnius on July 11-12.

Ukraine warns Russia considering nuclear plant attack 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian spies have received information showing Russia is considering carrying out a "terrorist" attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Speaking in a video statement on the Telegram platform, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was sharing information about the Russian-occupied facility in southern Ukraine with European allies, the United States, China and India.

Zelenskyy did not say what evidence was behind the assertion by intelligence agencies.

Moscow dismissed the allegations as a lie, adding that UN nuclear inspectors had visited the plant and rated what they saw there highly.

Zelenskyy thanks allies for fresh support

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked allies, including the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, for pledging support packages on the first day of a London-hosted donor conference on Ukrainian recovery.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said the conference, which continues Thursday, aimed to garner international business support for Ukraine's transformation. 

"Ukraine's task is to transform the moral leadership of our people into the economic leadership of our country," Zelenskyy said. "All the prerequisites for this exist, first of all, in our people, in our beautiful strong nation."

Day one of the two-day conference saw the UK announcing a $3 billion (approximately €2.75 billion) package over the next three years. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recapped the EU executive's support package for Ukraine of €50 billion over the next four years. 

Germany pledged €381 million in humanitarian assistance this year, and France €40 million. The United States will provide more than $1.3 billion in additional aid.

The conference, the second to be held since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is attended by leaders and representatives from over 60 countries.

Addressing matters on the ground, Zelenskyy also expressed his gratitude to Ukrainian troops for "every shot down Russian helicopter."

He said forces were "advancing in the South," and defenses "firming in the East."

Gas explosion rocks Kyiv residential building

A gas explosion demolished a number of apartments in a high-rise building in the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Thursday, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.

Serhii Popko, head of the administration, said the explosion was preliminarily believed to be due to a gas leak. The search for the victims was underway, Popko said.

Four apartments were destroyed, with six more damaged.

The administration shared photos on Telegram purportedly showing the affected building, with a number of middle floors clearly ablaze. It said there was one victim and 18 people rescued.

More DW coverage on Russia's war in Ukraine

War reporting in the digital age: DW looks at how the flood of video footage from frontline trenches in Ukraine makes covering the war for journalists even more complex.

Rebuilding Ukraine is a gargantuan task and the final cost is anyone's guess, not least because Russian forces continue to strike Ukrainian towns and cities. Sonia Phalnikar went to the village of Moshchun and the town of Irpin outside Kyiv to get a picture of rebuilding efforts. Watch the report below.

rmt,dvv/rt (AFP, AP, Reuters)