Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

Russia announced it has banned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several members of his cabinet from entering its territory in response to what it claims are the British government's hostilities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Russia said the ban was in response to sanctions placed on Russian senior officials by the British government.

In addition to Johnson, Russia banned the U.K.'s secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs; its secretary of state for defense; the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for justice; and several other members of the British government.

During his latest national address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy detailed the recovery of "normal life" in areas that have been rid of Russian occupiers.

"The restoration of normal life in those areas and districts where the occupiers were expelled continues," Zelenskyy said, noting that 918 settlements "have already been de-occupied."

"We carry out demining. We restore the supply of electricity, water and gas. We restore the work of the police, post office, state and local authorities," he continued.

Other work includes restoring the railways, including the connection between Chernihiv and Nizhyn and in the Sumy region, and resuming medical care and education. Across Ukraine, 1,018 educational institutions have been destroyed or damaged, according to Zelenskyy.

Four-fifths of Ukrainian businesses have also returned to work "in a safe area," in particular heavy industry enterprises, the president said.

Southern and eastern Ukraine, however, are "far from talking about recovery," he said.

"In the occupied districts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Russian military continue to terrorize civilian residents of our country," Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked President Joe Biden to designate Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism" during their call earlier this week, a U.S. official confirmed.

The White House and State Department have not responded to questions about Zelenskyy's appeal or the designation, but last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed an openness to it.

"In terms of other designations based on actions that Russia's taking, we are and we will look at everything," he told reporters during a press conference.

The designation, which is normally reserved for states that are arming and funding terror groups, carries some of the most severe sanctions under U.S. law -- although Russia is already under many of them.

Currently there are four countries on the list: Syria, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. The latter two were added by the Trump administration.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it prevented an attempt by the Ukrainians to hit Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station with two Tochka-U tactical missiles on Friday morning.

Russia claimed the missiles were shot down in mid-air and shrapnel from one of them fell on Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson region, damaging Kindergarten and residential buildings.

The facility regulates the flow of the Dnepr River, supplies electricity to Kherson region, and supplies water to agricultural areas in southern Ukraine and northern Crimea, according to Russia.

Russia claimed if the station was hit, it would have caused the release of Dnepr water and caused flooding of Kherson region settlements.