Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 700

Summary for Wednesday, 24th January 2024 - DAY 700

Good morning

• The Russian Defence Ministry says a military plane has crashed in Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border. "On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported for exchange, six crew members and three escorts," the ministry says
  
  
• At least 18 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in massive Russian airstrikes on Ukraine on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The air raids mostly targeted the two largest cities: the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv in the east. Ukraine’s president said more than 200 sites were struck, including 139 dwellings.
  
  
• Russia’s military is carrying out probing attacks with barrages of missiles and drones in an attempt to find weaknesses in Ukraine’s defences as US funding for security assistance is tied up in Congress, Celeste Wallander, a Pentagon assistant secretary of defence, has said.
  
  
• The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had invited Sweden’s prime minister to visit and negotiate his country joining the Nato military alliance, a process that Hungary and Turkey have delayed. Turkey’s parliament, though, voted on Tuesday to accept Sweden as a Nato member.
  
  
• Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, has made his first appearance since being hospitalised for cancer treatment – a stay he concealed from both the White House and Congress for several days. Austin spoke via video link at the opening of a meeting on military aid for Ukraine. “The security of the entire international community is on the line in Ukraine’s fight. I am more determined than ever to work with our allies and partners to support Ukraine and to get the job done,” Austin said.
  
  
• Western allies aren’t supplying Ukraine with enough ammunition and air defence missiles, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said in an interview with German media. Russian attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday “clearly show the need to provide more anti air defence systems, as well as more surface-to-air missiles”. As for the ground war, “insufficient quantities of artillery munitions has been a problem from the start”, he said.
  
  
• Kuleba said he was 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. “We’ll never give up,” Kuleba said.
  
  
• The finance minister of Germany has said it can’t keep up Ukraine’s defence capabilities on its own in the long term and that others will need to increase bilateral contributions.
  
  
• 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov’s chronicle of the besieged Ukrainian city and the international journalists who remained there after Russia invaded, has been nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.
  
  
• Poland and the Baltic states were calling for import bans on Russian aluminium and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the European Union’s 13th package of sanctions against Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, a Polish official said.
  
  
• Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, insisted life in the Ukrainian capital was “absolutely normal”, just hours after Russian missiles fell on Kyiv and a day before his first meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister.
  

Russian military plane crashes in Belgorod region

The Russian defence ministry says a military plane has crashed in Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border

Click  HERE for live up-to-date information from the BBC on this report.

Russian military plane crashes in Belgorod

Ukrainian PoWs were on board military plane that crashed in Belgorod, Russia says

Sources in Ukraine’s general staff say its armed forces shot down the Russian Ilyushin-76 military plane which crashed this morning in Belgorod, killing 63 people on board.

Andrei Kartapolov, a member of Russia's State Duma and a retired general, said a military transport plane that crashed in southern Russia on Wednesday was shot down by three missiles of types that the West has supplied to Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Kartapolov did not state the source of his information. He said investigations would reveal whether the missiles were Patriots or IRIS-Ts.

No survivors after Russian military plane crashes in Belgorod

Coordination HQ on plane crash in Russia: We urge to refrain from disseminating unverified info

Interfax-Ukraine

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War calls to refrain from disseminating unverified information due to the dissemination by Russian propaganda resources of statements about the crash of a military transport plane in Russia, allegedly transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war.

"Prior to the announcement of official statements or comments by authorized persons or bodies, we urge the media and citizens to refrain from disseminating unverified information. We note that the enemy is actively carrying out special information operations directed against Ukraine, which are aimed at destabilizing Ukrainian society. We ask you to responsibly disseminate sensitive information and use only by official sources," according to a statement published in the Telegram channel of the Coordination Headquarters on Wednesday.

As reported, earlier Russian media, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported the crash of an Il-76 in Belgorod region of Russia on Wednesday morning with 65 captured Ukrainian military personnel, who were allegedly transported to Belgorod region for exchange, and nine Russians: crew members and accompanying persons.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing its own sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the Il-76 military transport aircraft that crashed in Russia was carrying missiles for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems.

An informed source close to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told Interfax-Ukraine that the Russian Il-76 plane was shot down on takeoff, without specifying the alleged presence of Ukrainian prisoners on board.

8 dead, incl. a child, and nearly 70 injured after Russia attacks Kharkiv three times in a day

Photos: https://t.me/police_kh_region

Coordination HQ on plane crash in Russia: We urge to refrain from disseminating unverified info

Interfax-Ukraine

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War calls to refrain from disseminating unverified information due to the dissemination by Russian propaganda resources of statements about the crash of a military transport plane in Russia, allegedly transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war.

"Prior to the announcement of official statements or comments by authorized persons or bodies, we urge the media and citizens to refrain from disseminating unverified information. We note that the enemy is actively carrying out special information operations directed against Ukraine, which are aimed at destabilizing Ukrainian society. We ask you to responsibly disseminate sensitive information and use only by official sources," according to a statement published in the Telegram channel of the Coordination Headquarters on Wednesday.

As reported, earlier Russian media, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported the crash of an Il-76 in Belgorod region of Russia on Wednesday morning with 65 captured Ukrainian military personnel, who were allegedly transported to Belgorod region for exchange, and nine Russians: crew members and accompanying persons.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing its own sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the Il-76 military transport aircraft that crashed in Russia was carrying missiles for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems.

An informed source close to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told Interfax-Ukraine that the Russian Il-76 plane was shot down on takeoff, without specifying the alleged presence of Ukrainian prisoners on board.

Summary of the day so far...

• A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s Belgorod region. The region’s governer said all 74 people onboard were killed. Russia said Ukrainian prisoners of war were onboard and blamed the “Kyiv regieme” for the crash, saying its radar had detected two Ukrainian missiles.
  
  
• The UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said its allies need to “step up” the amount of military aid given to Ukraine. Writing in Politico, Shapps said: “Ukraine has done an unbelievable job of repelling its invader. It has retaken 50 per cent of the territory stolen by Russia, and opened up a maritime passage in the Black Sea. But Kyiv needs more support – and not just from the UK. Our fellow allies must step up too.”
  
  
• At least 18 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in massive Russian airstrikes on Ukraine on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The air raids mostly targeted the two largest cities: the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv in the east. Ukraine’s president said more than 200 sites were struck, including 139 dwellings.
  
  
• Russia’s military is carrying out probing attacks with barrages of missiles and drones in an attempt to find weaknesses in Ukraine’s defences as US funding for security assistance is tied up in Congress, Celeste Wallander, a Pentagon assistant secretary of defence, has said.
  
  
• The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had invited Sweden’s prime minister to visit and negotiate his country joining the Nato military alliance, a process that Hungary and Turkey have delayed. Turkey’s parliament, though, voted on Tuesday to accept Sweden as a Nato member.
  
  
• Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, has made his first appearance since being hospitalised for cancer treatment – a stay he concealed from both the White House and Congress for several days. Austin spoke via video link at the opening of a meeting on military aid for Ukraine. “The security of the entire international community is on the line in Ukraine’s fight. I am more determined than ever to work with our allies and partners to support Ukraine and to get the job done,” Austin said.
  
  
• Western allies aren’t supplying Ukraine with enough ammunition and air defence missiles, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said in an interview with German media. Russian attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday “clearly show the need to provide more anti air defence systems, as well as more surface-to-air missiles”. As for the ground war, “insufficient quantities of artillery munitions has been a problem from the start”, he said.
  
  
• Kuleba said he was 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. “We’ll never give up,” Kuleba said.
  
  
• The finance minister of Germany has said it can’t keep up Ukraine’s defence capabilities on its own in the long term and that others will need to increase bilateral contributions.
  
  
• 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov’s chronicle of the besieged Ukrainian city and the international journalists who remained there after Russia invaded, has been nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.
  
  
• Poland and the Baltic states were calling for import bans on Russian aluminium and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the European Union’s 13th package of sanctions against Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, a Polish official said.
  
  
• Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, insisted life in the Ukrainian capital was “absolutely normal”, just hours after Russian missiles fell on Kyiv and a day before his first meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister.
  

There is growing scepticism in Kyiv about Russia’s claims that the military aircraft that crashed on Wednesday morning had Ukrainian prisoners of war on board

There is increasing scepticism in Kyiv that the Russian military Il-76 transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Anton Gerashchenko, a popular blogger and adviser to the internal affairs ministry, said that Russia’s version of events was unconvincing. He quoted a local Belgorod channel ‘My Belgorod’ which reported that the plane had taken off from Belgorod, and was heading in the other direction when it came down.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke coming from the aircraft. “The direction of the crash indicates that the plane left Belgorod and was moving away from it,” My Belgorod reported. Seconds before impact, several objects fell from the Ilyushin, he said, citing video evidence.

Gerashchenko also claimed that Russia’s Ministry of Defence had “kicked out” civilian experts from Russia’s ministry of emergency situations from the site of the wreckage. “Only structures of Russia’s MoD remain,” he wrote on X.

Ukraine’s headquarters for prisoners swaps was gathering information, he added. In a statement it said the “enemy” carried out “special informational operations” to try and destabilise Ukrainian society.

Keir Giles, a fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia programme, also cast doubt on the Russian version of events. He said: “The Russian story – that Ukraine might indeed have shot down an aircraft carrying their own PoW – is gaining traction because of uncritical repetition in western media, with too many outlets already reporting this as a tragic mistake. But at this point, we have no way for certain of knowing what has happened. So far, the only suggestion that there were Ukrainians on board comes from the Russian Ministry of Defence, which usually serves as an indicator that the opposite is true.”

“The aircraft was flying away from Belgorod- it was supposedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war with just three guards. Russia mounted an impressively fast disinformation campaign off the back of the incident. That’s usually an indication that it was known about in advance.

“So, we should consider the possibility that Russia fed Ukrainian intelligence information that the aircraft was carrying S-300 missiles, as initially reported – but, in fact, filled it with Ukrainians in the expectation that it would be shot down. Russia showed with the destruction of Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s aircraft last year that it won’t balk at the deaths of its own innocent pilots when necessary.

He continued: “Even if the story of PoW on board is a complete fabrication, that doesn’t stop Russia exploiting the untruth- just look at how doubt over Russia’s shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 persisted, driven by a long-running and intensive Russian disinformation campaign.

“In addition, Russia controls the crash site – and has every opportunity to fabricate evidence to support its story. Missile fragments and other “evidence” can easily be introduced to show to journalists. The massacre at Olenivka in July 2022 shows how Russia is not above the mass murder of Ukrainian PoW if bodies are required.

“In summary, Russia holds all the cards for turning a serious military setback locally into a propaganda victory worldwide.”

Closing Summary:

• A Russian military transport plane has crashed in the border region of Belgorod, according to Russia’s defence ministry, killing all 74 people on board. The ministry said the aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoW who were to be swapped. The ministry added that onboard the Ilyushin Il-76 were also six crew and three Russian servicemen. The Russian military said all 74 people onboard had died.
  
  
• Ukraine did not confirm or deny the downing of the Il-76 but the military released a statement which accused the Russian army of using military transport aircraft to deliver missiles to the Belgorod region. The statement followed a now retracted Ukrainskaya Pravda report, which claimed that the military had shot down an Il-76 jet which it believed to be carrying a shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles en route to Belgorod this morning.
  
  
• In Kyiv, there is skepticism about Russia’s claim that the plane was carrying 65 PoW. Anton Gerashchenko, a popular blogger and adviser to the internal affairs ministry, said that Russia’s version of events was unconvincing.
  
  
• The UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said its allies need to “step up” the amount of military aid given to Ukraine. Writing in Politico, Shapps said: “Ukraine has done an unbelievable job of repelling its invader. It has retaken 50 per cent of the territory stolen by Russia, and opened up a maritime passage in the Black Sea. But Kyiv needs more support – and not just from the UK. Our fellow allies must step up too.”
  
  
• At least 18 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in massive Russian airstrikes on Ukraine on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The air raids mostly targeted the two largest cities: the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv in the east. Ukraine’s president said more than 200 sites were struck, including 139 dwellings.
  
  
• Russia’s military is carrying out probing attacks with barrages of missiles and drones in an attempt to find weaknesses in Ukraine’s defences as US funding for security assistance is tied up in Congress, Celeste Wallander, a Pentagon assistant secretary of defence, has said.
  
  
• The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had invited Sweden’s prime minister to visit and negotiate his country joining the Nato military alliance, a process that Hungary and Turkey have delayed. Turkey’s parliament, though, voted on Tuesday to accept Sweden as a Nato member.
  
  
• Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, has made his first appearance since being hospitalised for cancer treatment – a stay he concealed from both the White House and Congress for several days. Austin spoke via video link at the opening of a meeting on military aid for Ukraine. “The security of the entire international community is on the line in Ukraine’s fight. I am more determined than ever to work with our allies and partners to support Ukraine and to get the job done,” Austin said.
  
  
• Western allies aren’t supplying Ukraine with enough ammunition and air defence missiles, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said in an interview with German media. Russian attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday “clearly show the need to provide more anti air defence systems, as well as more surface-to-air missiles”. As for the ground war, “insufficient quantities of artillery munitions has been a problem from the start”, he said.
  
• Kuleba said he was 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. “We’ll never give up,” Kuleba said.
  
  
• The finance minister of Germany has said it can’t keep up Ukraine’s defence capabilities on its own in the long term and that others will need to increase bilateral contributions.
  
  
• 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov’s chronicle of the besieged Ukrainian city and the international journalists who remained there after Russia invaded, has been nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.
  
  
• Poland and the Baltic states were calling for import bans on Russian aluminium and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the European Union’s 13th package of sanctions against Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, a Polish official said.
  
  
• Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, insisted life in the Ukrainian capital was “absolutely normal”, just hours after Russian missiles fell on Kyiv and a day before his first meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister.