Live blog: Ukraine claims plane crash may be 'planned' by Moscow

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

1806 GMT — Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed that the reports on a Russian military plane crash earlier in the day could be a “planned and deliberate” action by Moscow to "destabilise" the situation in Ukraine and "weaken international support for our state."

The White House said it is looking into the crash of the Russian military plane on the border with Ukraine as Kiev and Moscow trade accusations about responsibility.

On Telegram, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence said there was supposed to be an exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia which did not take place, adding that it currently does not have “reliable and comprehensive information” about who exactly was on board the plane and how many. Read more here.

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1746 GMT — Two dead in Russian attack on town near Ukraine front line-officials

A mid-afternoon Russian missile strike on a town near the front line in Ukraine killed two people, injured eight and caused widespread damage, Ukrainian officials said.

The governor of Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said on Telegram that the missile hit a dwelling in the town of Hirnyk. Pictures posted online showed several buildings reduced to rubble.

Filashkin said apartment blocks and more than 40 private homes were damaged and he urged residents to evacuate to more secure areas. Ukraine's Emergency Services said one body was recovered from under rubble.

1730 GMT — Russian forces enter key Ukraine town then pushed back: mayor

Russian forces entered the war-battered town of Avdiivka for the first time but were pushed back, its mayor told AFP, following months of fierce fighting for the industrial hub in east Ukraine.

"Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups entered the southern part of the city of Avdiivka, but they were dislodged," Avdiivka mayor Vitaliy Barabash said.

He declined to say when Russian forces entered Avdiivka or how long they had been in the town.

1657 GMT — Scholz warns EU weapons support for Ukraine 'not big enough'

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged European nations to step up weapons pledges to Ukraine, raising the spectre that help from biggest contributor United States could fall away.

"Europe must do more to support Ukraine in the defence of its own country," Scholz told Die Zeit weekly in an interview.

"The contributions that European nations have earmarked for 2024 so far are not big enough," he added.

1652 GMT — Russia seeks emergency UN Security Council session on plane crash

Russia has called for an emergency UN Security Council session following the crash of a Russian plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Lavrov told a press conference at the United Nations that Russia had called for the meeting to be held at 2000 GMT.

Russia earlier accused Ukraine of deliberately shooting down the military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people.

1540 GMT — Slovakia will not block Kiev’s military purchases from Slovak firms: Ukraine

Slovakia will not block Ukraine’s military purchases from Slovak companies, the Ukrainian prime minister said.

"We have reached agreement with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on a number of important issues. The Slovak government will not block the purchase of weapons and equipment by Ukraine from Slovak companies," Denys Shmyhal said on X.


Providing details of their meeting in the city of Uzhhorod located on Ukraine’s border with Slovakia, Shmyhal said that Bratislava will also support the Ukraine Facility programme, envisaging the provision of $54.6 billion by the EU for Kiev.

1102 GMT — All aboard in Russian crashed military plane dead — governor

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said that everyone onboard a military transport plane that crashed in the region earlier on Wednesday had died.

Russia's defence ministry said earlier on that 74 people had been onboard the Il-76 transport plane, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be exchanged for Russian captives.

0937 GMT — Russian transport plane carrying Ukrainian POWs crashes

Russia has said that an IL-76 military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war has crashed in the western Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine.

"On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members and three escorts," the defence ministry was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

The crash occurred in the Korochansky district, northeast of the region's capital, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

"Now an investigation team and emergency services are working on the site. I have changed my working schedule and travelled to the district," Gladkov said.

A commission flew to the crash site of the Il-76 in the Belgorod region to establish the causes of the disaster, the Ministry of Defense reported.

0837 GMT — Dead, wounded tolls rise in Ukraine's Kharkiv, Kherson

Russian strikes wounded nine in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv, the regional governor said, just after a Russian missile barrage across the country that claimed more than a dozen lives.

The new Russian bombardments struck Kharkiv late Tuesday, hours after Moscow's missile attack killed at least 18 and wounded around 130 people.

The regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said Russian forces had fired S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city, which lies next to Ukraine's border with Russia.

"As a result of the impact, nine people were injured, including one child, a four-year-old girl, who was given help at the scene," he said.

"Four people were hospitalised -- two men and two women," he added, noting that residential buildings, municipal offices and a educational facility were damaged.

0121 GMT — Germany pledges Sea King choppers to Ukraine against Russia

Germany has decided to send six military helicopters to Ukraine, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has announced.

In a statement released after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, Pistorius said six Sea King Mk41 helicopters will be delivered in the coming months.

“The Sea King is a proven and robust helicopter that will help the Ukrainians in many areas: from reconnaissance over the Black Sea to transporting soldiers.

It is the first German delivery of its kind,” he said.

Pistorius also underlined that his country’s military support to Ukraine will almost double this year, reaching €7.5 billion ($8.1 billion).

2231 GMT — Ukraine war hits day 700 amid spike in Russian missile strikes

A wave of Russian missiles hit Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, killing 18 people and wounding more than a hundred, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, vowed a forceful response.

Rescue workers in Kharkiv — Ukraine's second-largest city, near Russia's border — hauled survivors from smouldering piles of rubble as apartment blocks were set ablaze and toppled by the strikes, AFP journalists reported.

"Ordinary life is what Russia sees as a threat to itself. The state is a typical terrorist," a sombre Zelenskyy said in his new address to the nation, adding that 130 people had been wounded in the attacks.

"Let them know in Russia that the Ukrainian character knows how to be far-reaching enough in response," Zelenskyy said. "The Russian war will inevitably be brought back home, back to where this evil came from, where it must be quelled."

2118 GMT — Ukraine minister criticises insufficient weapons supply

Western allies aren't supplying Ukraine with enough ammunition and air-defence missiles, Ukraine's foreign minister has said in an interview with German media.

Russian attacks on Kiev and Kharkiv "clearly show the need to provide more anti-air defence systems, as well as more surface-to-air missiles," Dmytro Kuleba told Die Welt, Bild, Welt TV and Politico.

As for the ground war, "insufficient quantities of artillery munitions has been a problem from the start," he said.

Kuleba said he's still in talks with the German government about receiving Taurus cruise missiles, even after the lower house of the German parliament voted a week ago against delivering them to Ukraine.

"We'll never give up," he said.

Kuleba pushed back against fears raised in Germany that the missiles would be used to attack Moscow or other sites in Russia, saying they were needed to destroy Russian military infrastructure behind the front on Ukrainian soil.

2006 GMT — Yellen reassures Ukraine's PM on budget support

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has reassured Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal that the Biden administration was committed to securing $11.8 billion in budget support to Kiev as part of a supplemental US funding request.

The Treasury said in a statement following a virtual meeting between the two officials that Yellen "underscored the importance of Congress acting on financial support for Ukraine as quickly as possible."

The Treasury said that the US leadership in providing direct budget support for Ukraine would catalyse other donors, which are expected to provide roughly three-quarters of Ukraine's 2024 external financing needs, which support vital government operations, including hospitals, schools and first responders.

"Financial support to Ukraine remains inextricably linked to its success on the battlefield", the Treasury said, adding that it also demonstrates the resolve of the US and its allies to defend the territorial sovereignty and freedoms of democratic countries.

"Providing financial support to Ukraine will help Ukraine win the war and advance US national security interests globally," the Treasury added.

For our live updates from Tuesday, January 23, click here.