Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 702

Summary for Friday, 26th January 2024 - DAY 702

Good morning

• Russia and Ukraine continue to dispute the circumstances surrounding the crash of a Russian military transport plane in the border region of Belgorod on Wednesday. The crash killed all 74 people onboard. Russia claims the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoW who were to be swapped, and that Ukrainian forces shot it down. Ukrainian officials on Thursday did not explicitly deny shooting down the aircraft but said they could not confirm that Ukrainian soldiers on their way to a prisoner exchange were onboard the plane. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, told Reuters the passenger list shared in Russian media of Ukrainian prisoners of war had discrepancies in it. “We found Ukrainian citizens in the list who have already been previously exchanged,” he said.
  
  
• Andrey Kartapolov, who heads Russia’s Duma defence committee, told lawmakers on Thursday: “The Ukrainian side was officially warned, and 15 minutes before the plane entered the zone they were given complete information.” Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, insisted that Kyiv had not received either a written or verbal request from Russia to secure airspace around the area of Belgorod, and that two other Russian military transport planes, an An-26 and an An-72, were simultaneously in the airspace.
  
  
• A Moscow court [url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk?INTCMP=CE_UK#:~:text=6h ago-,Russia,nationalist Putin critic and woman convicted of bomb attack is jailed,-US border policy]has jailed Igor Girkin[/url], a prominent ultra-nationalist critic of Vladimir Putin. A former officer for Russia’s FSB security service, Girkin was arrested last summer in his apartment and charged with “calls for extremism” after months of public criticism in which he accused Putin of failing to pursue the war in Ukraine with enough vigour.
  
  
• Darya Trepova, 26, has been jailed for 27 years for delivering a bomb that exploded in the hands of a pro-war military blogger last year, killing him on the spot. The Russian woman was convicted by a St Petersburg court of charges including terrorism in connection with the death of Vladlen Tatarsky. He was killed by a bomb concealed inside a statuette that Trepova had presented to him as a gift during a talk he was giving in a St Petersburg cafe.
  
  
• Several major Ukrainian state organisations reported cyber attacks on their systems, in the latest wave that a source close to the government blamed on Russian intelligence. Ukraine’s state-run energy company Naftogaz said one of the data centres had been hit by a “large-scale cyberattack”.
  
  
• The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly (Pace) in Strasbourg has unanimously adopted a resolution about the fate of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia. It calls on national parliaments to adopt resolutions “recognising these crimes as genocide” and asks the international community to collaborate with Ukraine to trace and repatriate missing children. The international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant in March 2023 for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.
  
  
• Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, visited Kyiv, while Vladimir Putin was in Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Lithuania. The Kremlin said the visit had not been intended as a message to Nato members.
  
  
• Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has responded to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán wanting more talks between the two nations over Sweden’s application to join Nato by suggesting the pair meet in Brussels. Orbán had extended an invitation for the discussion to take place in Budapest. The speaker of Hungary’s parliament, László Kövér, has said there is no urgency to resolve the situation, and that attempts by opposition parties to convene an emergency session of parliament to debate it are likely to fail.
  

Wall Street Journal reporter accused of espionage in Russia loses appeal against arrest

The death toll from Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv has risen to 11, officials said on Friday.

Two Russian citizens have been arrested for passing information about the country’s military to Ukraine

  According to an investigation, they proactively established contact with a representative of the Ukrainian security services.
In the course of their communications, they agreed to collect and transmit information about units of the Russian armed forces taking part in the special military operation.

Russia blocks international commission from investigating Il-76 crash, Ukraine says

Russia has not passed on information about the Russian Il-76 transport plane crash to the International Committee of Red Cross yet for an international investigation, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov said on Jan. 26.
Ukraine has called for an international investigation to establish the facts about the plane crash in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on Jan. 24.
Moscow claims that Ukrainian air defenses shot down the plane, which it claims to have been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
"Such information (about Ukrainian prisoners of war allegedly on the board) should be public and passed on, in particular, by the aggressor state to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which should verify the health status, conditions of detention and treatment of prisoners of war," Yusov said on TV. "As far as we know, no such information has been transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross at this stage."
Ukraine's military intelligence confirmed that a prisoner exchange had been planned for Jan. 24 but added that the Russian side had not informed the Ukrainian side about the need to ensure airspace safety over Belgorod before the plane crash.
Ukraine said that it is still trying to find more details about the POWs that were supposed to participate in the exchange.
Without neither confirming nor denying Ukraine's involvement in the plane crash, Ukraine's General Staff said in its statement that Kyiv is closely monitoring the launch points of Russian missiles and the logistics of their delivery, especially with the use of military transport aircraft, amid intensifying Russian attacks.
"Concerning specific causes of the plane's crash, the request to create an international commission is logical and well-founded," Yusov said. Such an investigation could examine the wreckage of the plane and uncover its black box, he noted.
"At the moment, as we hear, Russia rejects the possibility of such a commission."
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Russian authorities have discovered both black boxes of the downed aircraft, sending them to a Moscow military laboratory for analysis.
A senior Russian lawmaker Andrey Kartopolov [b]claimed[/b] on Jan. 25 that Ukraine was given a 15-minute warning ahead of the flight. Kyiv is denying this claim.
Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he had turned to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to find out whether Russia informed the organization about the supposed POW transport.
"I want to get an official response from the ICRC that the Russian Federation announced they would be transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war in one way or another on that day," Lubinets said.
"I am 99% convinced that they did not inform anyone because they never do this, just as they violate other norms of the Geneva Convention."
Following Russia's appeal, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to address the Il-76 crash but failed to give a definitive statement on the events.
"The United Nations is not in a position to verify these reports or the circumstances of the crash," UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said.

Russia releases list of prisoners allegedly supposed to be returned to Ukraine on 24 January

Ukraine’s Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has said that after a long delay Russia has released a list of Ukrainian prisoners of war who, according to Russia’s claims, were on board of the Il-76 aircraft that crashed in Russia on 24 January.

• A Russian Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Korocha district of Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated the plane was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The Russian Defence Ministry said the plane was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to Belgorod for a swap. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, two Ukrainian missiles were "fired", killing 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian POWs.
  
  
• Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan published a list of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who she alleges were on board the Il-76 aircraft that crashed. The media only knows the names of six killed crew members.
  
  
• Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed that the swap scheduled for 24 January did not take place, but they had no information about the Ukrainian prisoners on board the Il-76. In the previous swap, prisoners were delivered by plane, but Ukraine was made aware of it.
  
  
• The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, without mentioning the Il-76, said it was taking all measures to protect Ukraine and Ukrainians.
  
  
• Andrii Yusov said that Russian officials were supposed to be on board the Il-76, but at the last minute, the FSB forbade them to board, and only five bodies were delivered to the local morgue after the incident. He also suggested that the plane could have been carrying both missiles and people.
  
  
• Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets also pointed to the lack of evidence that many people were killed in the crash.
  

Russia uses deadly chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers, experts confirm

Russia has been using special gas grenades with chloroacetophenone, a prohibited chemical warfare agent, to attack Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian military representatives and forensic experts.

A Ukrainian military with Russian special gas RG-Vo grenades in his hands. Credit: Andrii Rudyk.

Russia is actively using chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military, according to Captain Andrii Rudyk, a representative of the Center for Research of Trophy and Advanced Weapons and Military Equipment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The use of chemical weapons is a serious war crime and is prohibited by several international conventions to which Russia is still a signatory.
Russian troops use a new type of special RG-Vo gas grenades containing an irritant agent against Ukrainian soldiers, Andrii Rudyk stated at a briefing at the Military Media Center in Kyiv on 25 January. According to him, the Russian army first used such grenades in Ukraine in December 2023.
The name of the grenade RG-Vo stands for “hand grenade – poisonous substance” in Russian, which indicates its purpose. According to Andrii Rudyk, in December 2023, a total of 81 cases of the use of Russian grenades with poisonous substances were recorded.

“This grenade contains chloroacetophenone, an asphyxiating substance banned by the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. This poisonous gas is also prohibited for use in combat by the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/2603 ‘Question of chemical and bacteriological (biological) weapons’ of 1969. The Russian Federation is still a signatory to both documents,” Andrii Rudyk said.

Andrii Rudyk said that chloroacetophenone, which a Russian RG-Vo grenade contains, among other poisonous components, is a hazardous chemical warfare agent from the group of lacrimators. The lethal toxic dose of chloroacetophenone is 11 mg-min/l. Approximately 70 drops of chloroacetophenone are enough to kill an adult, Andrii Rudyk stated.
Experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise (Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise) examined the Russian hand grenade marked RG-Vo (862-3-23) and confirmed that the object of study was manufactured industrially and was indeed a special gas grenade of Russian origin, the Ukrainian monitoring group Militarnyi reported.
Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, said that the internal structure of the grenade was assessed using an X-ray examination. Such a non-destructive method allowed Ukrainian experts to check the object for hidden threats. The relevant physical and chemical studies were conducted using modern equipment to analyze the grenade’s content.

“According to the results of the expert analysis, it was found that the substance from the grenade contained traces of an irritant chemical agent, namely chloroacetophenone (CN), which is an irritant chemical warfare agent,” Oleksandr Ruvin said.

The substance chloroacetophenone (CN) is prohibited for use as a chemical warfare agent under the Geneva Protocol, approved by the UN General Assembly in 1969 following its use during the Vietnam War. Chloroacetophenone acts directly on the mucous membranes, causing intense irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract with burning sensation and pain in the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Respiratory irritation by CN causes sneezing, coughing, nasal congestion, and a feeling of suffocation, Militarnyi reported.
The found sample of a special RG-Vo grenade was manufactured in Russia in 2023. Thus, in 2017, Russian authorities lied about fulfilling their obligations under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which required Russia to destroy the weapons and the production facilities where they were manufactured.

Previously, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that there were recorded 626 cases of Russian invaders using munitions containing toxic chemicals since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

Russia is ramping up its assaults on Sivershchyna and Bakhmut fronts – Ukraine's Ground Forces Commander

Russian forces are ramping up their assault operations on the Sivershchyna and Bakhmut fronts.

Source: Colonel General Olaksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram

Details: Syrskyi said that the situation on the eastern front remains difficult.

Russian forces are continuing assault operations on the Sivershchyna front in order to improve their tactical position and create conditions to expand their offensive towards Siversk.

Russian assault groups, supported by mortar and artillery units, are making unsuccessful attempts to advance towards Kreminna and Hryhorivka.

Syrskyi also said that Russian forces are "making up for their unsuccessful offensive operations by ramping up the intensity of artillery fire". Over the course of the past two days, the Russians deployed multiple-launch rocket systems, aircraft and kamikaze drones "to attack the city" [it is unclear what city he is referring to – ed.].

Syrskyi said that Russian forces are also undertaking assault operations on the Bakhmut front, where they are trying to break through the Ukrainian defences to the south and west of Bakhmut, and to advance towards Chasiv Yar. Russian forces are regrouping and deploying new "volunteer corps" units on this front. They are making unsuccessful attempts to regain the positions they had lost in the vicinity of Klishchiivka and Andriivka.
The lack of tactical successes has forced Russian forces to assume defensive positions in some areas, though they keep assault groups on standby, ready to conduct offensive operations.

Quote from Syrskyi: "Our headquarters and commanders respond to every change in operational situation in a timely manner. Today I visited combat zones. I heard reports from brigade commanders regarding the current situation. Together, we assessed possible further actions. We outlined several goals and approved a series of decisions aimed at making our attacks on enemy forces more effective. We are currently focusing on using reconnaissance to detect the occupiers’ key targets, delivering precision fire strikes, using kamikaze drones, and using electronic warfare to protect our positions."

Closing Summary

• Russia and Ukraine continue to dispute the circumstances surrounding the crash of a Russian military transport plane in the border region of Belgorod on Wednesday. The crash killed all 74 people onboard. Russia claims the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoW who were to be swapped, and that Ukrainian forces shot it down.
  
  
• The black boxes from the plane have been delivered to a special laboratory in Moscow for analysis, Russian state media said. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called for full clarity over the crash, accusing Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has lost an appeal against his arrest, Russian state news agencies report. A court in Moscow extended the pretrial detention until the end of March, meaning the journalist will have spent at least a year behind bars in Russia.
  
  
• The former Nato security general George Robertson has told Sky News that the Ukrainians are “fighting for us” and “we need to do more”. He said if Russia were to defeat Ukraine, the “rest of us” would then be in danger because Putin would be “fuelled by any success that he has in Ukraine”.
  
  
• Ukraine has invited Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to participate in peace talks, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s top adviser has said. Switzerland has agreed to hold the summit, which a number of world leaders will attend, but no venue or date has been set just yet.
  
  
• In a letter to House Republicans, the speaker, Mike Johnson, warned that an immigration deal under consideration in the Senate may be “dead on arrival” in his chamber. The Republican leader’s statement bodes ill for the bargaining in the Senate, which is seen as crucial to unlocking GOP support for aid to Ukraine, as well as for Israel and Taiwan.