Day 701 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Moscow And Kyiv Trade Accusations Over The Downed Russian Plane

Ukraine | January 25, 2024, Thursday // 11:00|  views

Day 701 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

  • A Russian court sentenced Igor Strelkov to 4 years in prison
  • The accused in the murder of the Russian military blogger Tatarsky received 27 years in prison
  • The Ukrainian services are starting an investigation into the plane accident near Belgorod
  • Moscow and Kyiv trade accusations over the downed Russian plane
  • Ukraine wants an international investigation into the case of the downed Russian plane
  • Russia attacked Odesa with drones, a residential building was hit
  • Britain offers Germany a missile exchange in favor of Ukraine
  • Fire at Russian oil base, flights at Sochi airport suspended


A Russian court sentenced Igor Strelkov to 4 years in prison

The famous Russian nationalist Igor Strelkov (Girkin) was sentenced by a court in Moscow today to 4 years in prison for inciting extremism, Reuters reported.

Strelkov had accused President Vladimir Putin and the country's top military leadership of conducting the war in Ukraine insufficiently effectively.

The 53-year-old Muscovite, whose real surname is Girkin, is a former employee of the Russian services. In 2014, he was the "Minister of Defense" of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic.

He was sentenced in absentia in the Netherlands to life imprisonment for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine.

He was detained in Russia last July on charges of extremism

The accused in the murder of the Russian military blogger Tatarsky received 27 years in prison

A court in St. Petersburg sentenced Daria Trepova to 27 years in prison, accused of delivering the bomb (in the form of a statuette gift) that killed the "military correspondent" Vladlen Tatarsky last year.

Trepova, 26, was found guilty of several charges, including terrorism and illegal handling of explosives and document forgery, after she handed the statuette bomb to Tatarsky during an event he attended at a cafe in St Petersburg.

She did not deny that she handed over the statuette, but did not plead guilty: she believed that she had been drugged and that she was acting on instructions from a man nicknamed Gestalt, who was introduced to him by a journalist living in Ukraine, and claimed that she did not know what contains the statuette.

Russia blamed Ukraine for killing Tatarsky, who was among the popular "war bloggers" who wrote about the war in Ukraine and reported information from the front faster than official sources in Russia's heavily controlled media environment.

Trepova insisted that she followed Gestalt's instructions because she believed he would be tapped to learn more about the war she was against. "I feel great pain and shame that my gullibility and my naivety led to such catastrophic consequences. I did not mean to hurt anyone," she told the court earlier this week. "I feel particular pain and shame that a terrorist act was carried out by my own hands." She explained that she panicked and ignored instructions to go to the airport and catch a flight, instead she called a friend to let her stay at his apartment overnight.

The defense insisted that Trepova was also a victim because she could have been killed, and the prosecution that she knew about the bomb and acted deliberately to "destabilize the Russian Federation and discredit the special military operation" (i.e. the war) in Ukraine. The prosecution wanted 28 years in prison.

The other person convicted in the case - Dmitry Kasintsev, the boyfriend with whom she spent the night after Tatarsky's murder - received 21 months in a penal colony on charges of concealing a particularly serious crime by "misleading the law enforcement authorities".

The Ukrainian services are starting an investigation into the plane accident near Belgorod

Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the downing of a Russian military transport plane with Ukrainian prisoners of war on board. According to Russia, it is "Ukrainian terrorism".

Kyiv claims it was not notified of the plane's flyover through normal channels and is demanding an international investigation.

Ukraine's Security Service announced it was launching an investigation into yesterday's crash after military intelligence said the Russian side had not requested a safe air corridor, as is standard practice in prisoner-of-war exchanges. This was taken as an indirect admission that Ukraine had shot down the plane.

The Russian Defense Ministry said two black boxes containing information about the plane's course and the crew's communications were recovered from the wreckage. They have been handed over for decryption. Moscow requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which was scheduled for tonight.

According to the Russian authorities, there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, three accompanying Russian military personnel and six crew members on board the Il-76 plane that crashed. No one survived.

Moscow and Kyiv trade accusations over the downed Russian plane

Moscow and Kyiv exchanged accusations after a Russian IL-76 military transport plane (allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war) was shot down over the Belgorod region. Ukraine demanded an international investigation.

Russia described as an abuse of authority the decision of France, which presides over the UN Security Council, to postpone until tonight the emergency meeting requested yesterday in connection with the downed Russian plane with Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to Moscow, this will give Kyiv an opportunity to buy time for a plausible explanation.

The meeting was announced in New York by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who accused the Ukrainian authorities of terrorism.

The Ukrainian servicemen were supposed to be taken to the Belgorod region for exchange with Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv suspected "deliberate actions by the Russian Federation with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine and weakening international support for the country." President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

"It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of the public. We have a duty to establish all the facts of the plane incident as best we can, given that the crash is on Russian territory - beyond our control," Zelensky said.

Due to the accident, Zelensky canceled a trip and events on the occasion of his 46th birthday today.

At the same time, a Russian drone attack was reported from Odesa yesterday evening. Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov reported that residential buildings were hit, there were two injured.

Ukraine wants an international investigation into the case of the downed Russian plane

Ukraine wants an international investigation into the case of the downed Russian plane. This is what President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his midnight address.

He canceled all his trips so he could follow up on the case. Yesterday, a Russian military transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine. According to Moscow, there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board, three Russian servicemen who accompanied them and six crew members. There are no survivors.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the plane was shot down by Ukrainian missiles. Kyiv continues to claim that it is clarifying the circumstances surrounding the crash and the fate of the prisoners of war. The US said it could not confirm that there were Ukrainians on board.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that they will continue to shoot down Russian planes which, according to intelligence, are transporting ammunition. Minutes after the incident, information appeared that the plane was shot down because it was carrying S-300 missiles. This was not officially confirmed.

Russia attacked Odesa with drones, a residential building was hit

For the second time within hours, Odess has been attacked by Russian drones. Loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian Black Sea city at night, BTA reports.

Local authorities call on the Telegram app for all citizens to seek shelter. The alarm was announced at 10:53 p.m.

During this second attack by Russian forces with unmanned aerial vehicles, a residential building was again hit. The city authorities also announced this in the Telegram application.

There is damage and damage done. So far, one woman has been reported injured. The number of injured is in the process of being specified.

Earlier last night, Odesa was attacked by drones from the Black Sea. Sirens in the Ukrainian Black Sea city and in the district were turned on at 8:46 p.m., and the call off was given at 9:41 p.m. A series of loud explosions were heard in the central part of the city.

"Russian terrorists attacked Odesa with attack drones. There is damage to the civilian housing infrastructure. Fires have been registered. So far it is known about two wounded men from Odesa. Doctors are providing them with the necessary assistance," announced the chairman of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleg Kiper.

The Bulgarian community in Odesa region is the third largest in number and numbers over 150,000 people according to the official census in Ukraine in 2001. About 50-60 thousand Bulgarians live in Odesa. The largest compact Bulgarian population is concentrated in the Bolgrad, Izmail and Belgorodnist regions.

Britain offers Germany a missile exchange in favor of Ukraine

Britain has offered Germany a cruise missile swap to overcome Berlin's reluctance to give Ukraine long-range missiles it wants. This was reported by the German newspaper "Handelsblatt" on Wednesday, quoted by Reuters.

Kyiv wants long-range Taurus missiles from Berlin, but Germany fears that Ukraine will gain the ability to inflict significant damage deeper into its Russian-occupied territory, provoking an international escalation of the conflict.

The newspaper cited government and diplomatic sources as saying that the British government offered Berlin a few weeks ago to export Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine in return for the German Taurus.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office is analyzing this proposal, the newspaper added.

A person familiar with the negotiations told “Handelsblatt” that the swap could potentially find support in Berlin. The German government declined to comment.

A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said the UK and its partners, including Germany, continue to work together to equip Ukraine as best as possible to defend its territory.

Also on Wednesday, a German government spokesman said additional arms supplies to Ukraine would be discussed at an emergency EU summit on February 1.

European leaders are meeting in Brussels to seek a solution to continue aid to embattled Kyiv after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed plans for 50 billion euros by 2027 in the EU's aid budget for Ukraine in December.

"This will be an item on the agenda in Brussels in just over a week," the spokesman said at a government press conference in Berlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on EU allies in early January to increase their military aid to Ukraine.

Fire at Russian oil base, flights at Sochi airport suspended

A fire broke out in an oil refinery in Tuapse, the operations headquarters of the Krasnodar region reported. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or injuries.

Sergey Boyko, the governor of the Tuapse district, wrote in Telegram that the fire was confined to the refinery complex.

According to unofficial channels, the fire started after a drone attack.

The Sochi airport, which is the main airport for the region, said all flights had been canceled.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are being clarified.

Novinite remains the sole Bulgarian media outlet consistently delivering daily updates and key insights concerning the conflict. Our reporting commenced on the first day, 24th February 2022, and will persist until the conflict's resolution. Despite challenges, our independent journalism remains committed to offering precise, current news to our audience. We appreciate your ongoing support in staying informed! #stayinformed #WarInUkraine

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Tags: plane, Ukraine, Russia, Kyiv

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