Live blog: Ukraine military aid will not pass in Congress— US House speaker

Friday, January 26, 2024

1647 GMT — The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives has said that Congress is not ready to approve renewal of US military aid crucial to Ukraine for its desperate fight against Russian military operation.

The Senate "appears unable to reach any agreement," wrote Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter to lawmakers, adding that in any case his party would not have given its approval in the House, meaning it "would have been dead on arrival."

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1627 GMT — Hungary making talks on EU aid for Ukraine "complicated": EU

European Union (EU) talks on giving Ukraine $54B in financial aid have been getting "more complicated" since Hungary has not been flexible ahead of next week's summit on the matter, a senior EU official has said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked a revision of the EU budget that includes the Ukraine aid at a summit in December. EU leaders will try again to reach a deal on the package at another summit next Thursday.

1625 GMT — Kiev knew plane was carrying Ukrainian POWs: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of shooting down a Russian IL-76 military transport plane this week and alleged that Ukraine knew it was carrying prisoners of war.

"The main intelligence department of the Ukrainian army knew that we were taking 65 servicemen there. They did it by mistake or thoughtlessly, but they did it," Putin said.

1605 GMT — Putin gives go-ahead to new nuclear icebreaker

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the green light for a new nuclear-powered icebreaker, as Moscow seeks to step up commercial trade across its Arctic north.

Under Western sanctions for its Ukraine offensive, Russia is hoping to rely on the Northern Sea Route a shipping lane that traverses the Arctic Ocean to enable more trade with Asia by cutting distances and costs.

1604 GMT — Ukraine shot down plane with US or French missiles: Russia

Moscow accuses Kiev of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia's Belgorod region, killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to be swapped for Russian PoWs.

Putin has said the results of Russia's investigation would be published in two to three days, but preliminary results suggested the missiles that downed the plane were American or French.

1517 GMT — EU assessing 'all scenarios' on future Russian gas flows via Ukraine: official

A European Union official has declined to speculate on whether a contract to import Russian gas via Ukraine will be extended beyond the end of the year, but said the bloc was assessing all scenarios for the future of the gas contract.

The EU will not speculate on Ukraine and Russia's interest to renew the gas pipeline contract, which is due to expire on Dec. 31, the official said.

1407 GMT — Bodies of 77 Ukrainian soldiers repatriated to Kiev

Ukraine has said that Russia had returned the bodies of 77 soldiers, days after the downing of a Russian military plane threw doubt on the future of such exchanges.

Moscow and Kiev traded fresh accusations over the crash of the transporter that Russia says was shot down near the rivals' border, killing 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The latest repatriation of bodies appeared unrelated to the downing of the plane, which crashed in a fireball in Russia's western Belgorod region on Wednesday.

1216 GMT — Russia laments lack of intl. condemnation over Belgorod plane crash

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has expressed dissatisfaction with the UN Security Council's response to the recent Russian military plane crash, which Moscow says was a result of "Kiev's terror attack."

"The horrific destruction of an airplane that was transporting people, including our pilots and Russian escorts, as well as a significant number of Ukrainian prisoners of war, merits a strong response from the world community," he said

1017 GMT — Russia prepares LNG alternatives if Ukraine doesn’t renew deal

Russia will use alternative routes and supplies of sea-borne liquefied natural gas in case Ukraine does not extend the deal on Russian gas transit to Europe, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov has said.

The current five-year agreement between Moscow and Kiev about Russian gas transit to Europe expires in the end of 2024.

Speaking to reporters at a daily conference call, Peskov also said that the logistic chains for Russian gas exports would be overhauled in case the deal was not extended.

Various media outlets have cited the Ukrainian government as saying that Kiev will not seek talks with Moscow on the possibility of a gas transit deal extension.

0824 GMT — Crashed plane black boxes transferred to Moscow

The black boxes from a Russian Il-76 military transport plane that crashed near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday have been delivered to a special laboratory in Moscow for analysis, Russian state media said. Experts have already started work on recovering flight data from the boxes, they said.

0324 GMT — Security at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant extremely fragile: IAEA

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned of the fragile situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, which is currently under Russian control.

"The nuclear safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in particular, continues to be extremely fragile," Rafael Grossi told a UN Security Council meeting.

Grossi said the plant’s six reactors have been shut down since mid-2022 – five of them in cold shutdown and one in hot shutdown.

"But the potential dangers of a major nuclear accident remain very real," he added.

He reminded the Security Council that the availability of off-site power is essential to ensure the plant’s safe operation.

"A nuclear accident has not yet happened. This is true. But complacency could still lead us to tragedy. That should not happen,” he said. "We must do everything in our power to minimize the risk that it does.”

0249 GMT — UN 'not in a position' to verify reports on Russian military plane crash

The UN is "not in a position" to verify reports by Ukraine and Russia on the downing of a Russian military plane in Russia's Belgorod region, an official has said.

"We understand both Russia and Ukraine are conducting separate investigations into the incident and Kiev has called for an international probe,” Rosemary DiCarlo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, told a UN Security Council meeting.

"The UN is not in a position to verify these reports or the circumstances of the crash,” she said.

"What is clear is that the incident took place in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing war. To avoid further escalation, we urge all concerned to refrain from actions, rhetoric or allegations that could further fuel the already dangerous conflict," she said.

0106 GMT — Russia, Ukraine trade plane crash blame at UNSC

Moscow and Kiev have traded accusations at the UN Security Council after the crash of a Russian military plane near the Ukraine border a day earlier.

"All of the information that we have today show that we are dealing with a premeditated, thought-through crime," said Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, whose delegation had requested the emergency meeting.

Moscow accuses Kiev of downing the IL-76 transport plane, which it said was carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a planned prisoner exchange.

"The leadership of Ukraine knew the route very well, knew about the way the soldiers were going to be transported to the place of exchange," Polyanskiy said.

It was not the first prisoner exchange between the two sides, but this time Kiev "for some inexplicable reason decided to sabotage this procedure and do it in the most barbaric way possible," he said, accusing Ukraine of sacrificing its troops "to Western geopolitical interests."

Ukraine pushed back on the accusations.

"Ukraine was not informed about the number of vehicles, roads and means of transportation of the captives. This alone may constitute intentional actions by Russia to endanger the lives and safety of the prisoners," Deputy Ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshyn said.

2346 GMT — Senate deal on border and Ukraine at risk of collapse as Trump calls it 'meaningless'

A bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures and Ukraine aid faced potential collapse as Senate Republicans grew increasingly wary of an election-year compromise that Donald Trump says is "meaningless."

At stake is a plan that both President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have worked on for months to broker in hopes of cajoling Congress to approve wartime aid for Ukraine.

The US has run out of money to supply Ukraine, potentially leaving the country stranded without robust supplies of ammunition and missiles to fend off Russia.

For our live updates from Thursday, January 25, click here.