Russia on Thursday announced an investigation into “terrorism” a day after a Russian military plane crashed near the Ukrainian border.
Moscow accuses Moscow of deliberately shooting down a plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners, according to Russian officials.
Follow the latest information directly.
Crash in Russia: Investigation for “Terrorism”
Russia announced a “terrorism” investigation on Thursday, a day after the crash of a Russian military plane near the Ukrainian border that Moscow accused Kiev of deliberately shooting down the plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners, according to Russian officials. .
“A criminal investigation into a terrorist act is ongoing following the crash of an Il-76 aircraft in the Belgorod region,” the Russian Intelligence Service said in a statement. The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had called for an international investigation.
Ukrainian journalists are victims of intimidation
Investigative journalists in Ukraine have recently been targeted by “intimidating” measures that may be related to their ongoing investigations into corruption in the country, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) lamented on Thursday, “condemning increasing pressure against Ukrainian media.”
“A number of worrying cases of intimidation have emerged in recent weeks and we believe this is not a trend that will continue,” Pauline Maufrais, the organisation's Ukraine mission manager, told AFP.
27 years in prison for the murder of a pro-Kremlin blogger
Daria Trebova, a 26-year-old woman accused in the April 2023 bombing of a Russian nationalist blogger specializing in attacks on Ukraine, was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Thursday, a Russian judge announced.
Daria “Trebova was sentenced to 27 years in a penal colony,” the military court in St. Petersburg (northwest Russia), where the trial took place, said in a statement.
Interpolations of Kirk's supporters
Three supporters of Russian nationalist protester Igor Kirkin, who was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, were arrested by police in court after the verdict, AFP journalists said on the site.
One of the arrested shouted “Freedom for Strelkov!” He was holding a poster. (name of Igor Kirkin, editor's note) and, like the two arrested, campaigned for the “Other Russia” party created by the nationalist writer Eduard Limonov.
Kuigin was sentenced to 4 years in prison
The Russian judiciary sentenced Igor Kirkin, an ultra-nationalist and veteran of the Ukrainian Front, to four years in prison in 2014 for “extremism” in support of an attack on Ukraine and becoming a critic of the Kremlin.
“I'm serving the motherland,” he declared as the verdict was announced. This former commander of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was convicted in the Netherlands of shooting down MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
kyiv requests site inspection
Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets demanded that the UN and the Red Cross access the site of a military plane crash in Russia on Thursday, the day before Moscow said it had taken 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In the Russian region of Belgorod, “I request that representatives of these organizations join in inspecting the sites,” confirmed Dmytro Lubinets, who said he had contacted the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). We learned that the prisoners were exchanged by Russia on Wednesday. However, he said he was “confident” that “no one will be allowed to visit the site”.
Ukraine says it attacked an oil rig in Russia
Ukraine has claimed responsibility for Thursday's drone strike against an oil complex in southern Russia, which Russian officials said caused the fire, according to AFP's military source.
Ukrainian security services (SBU) attacked a refinery in Tuapse, a town on the Black Sea coast, and damaged an “oil processing unit,” the source said. At night, the regional authorities announced that an oil platform caught fire in Tuapse, without explaining the causes of the disaster.
Initiation of an investigation by the Ukrainian special services
Ukraine's special services (SBU) announced on Thursday that they were launching an investigation into the crash of a Russian military plane in the Belgorod border region, a day before Moscow accused Kiev of shooting it down with Ukrainian prisoners of war on board. .
“The investigation is being conducted under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war),” the SBU said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “playing” with Ukrainian lives. Prisoners.
“People's Army”
As the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches, Britain's chief of staff has called for a “citizen army to be trained” to counter the risks of conflict. He cited as an example the steps some European countries have taken to strengthen themselves in the face of the “Russian threat”.
Ukraine claims to have shot down 11 Russian drones
Ukraine on Thursday said it had shot down 11 of 14 drones launched by Russia, which injured several people in the country's south.
The Ukrainian Air Force said air defense systems in the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions shot down the drones, while the Interior Ministry said the attacks wounded six people in Odessa and damaged residential buildings and warehouses.
Russian plane crash
The Kremlin describes the downing of the Russian military transport plane as a “monstrous act” by Kyiv, for which it blames Ukraine. “Ukrainians killed their prisoners, their citizens who were supposed to be at home in almost 24 hours, it's an absolutely brutal act,” Peskov was quoted as saying by news agencies. Russians.
According to Moscow, the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange in the Russian region of Belgorod, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, on Wednesday.
Emergency meeting of the UN Security Council
On Thursday at the request of Moscow, the UN The Security Council meets urgently, accusing Ukraine of shooting down a Russian military transport plane and killing all its passengers, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be exchanged.
The meeting was held at 5 p.m., the French leadership of the council announced, following a request made Wednesday by Russian diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov, who is visiting New York.
Update on the situation
Here's the latest key information on the conflict:
– Russia accused Ukraine of shooting down a Russian military transport plane over the Belgorod border on Wednesday, according to Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an international investigation in his daily web address later in the evening. At the request of Moscow, the UN The Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon.
– Two people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and eight others wounded in a Russian strike on a village in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on Wednesday, regional authorities announced.
– Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voted on first reading of a bill aimed at confiscating the money and assets of anyone found guilty of spreading “disinformation” about the military.
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The Kremlin accused Ukraine of shooting down a Russian military transport plane over the Belgorod border, killing all 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board. In his daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an international investigation to be opened later in the evening. “It is obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their parents and with the emotions of our society”He announced without confirming or denying that the victims were indeed prisoners of his country. “Since the plane was shot down in Russian territory beyond our control, we need to establish all the facts clearly and as clearly as possible.”Zelensky added.
The council leadership announced on Wednesday that an emergency meeting of the Security Council would be held on Thursday afternoon at Moscow's request.
For its part, the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (GUR) said: “No reliable information” On the passengers of the downed Il-76, while confirming a prisoner exchange “presumable” But in the end it didn't happen. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry criticized Ukraine “struck” A Russian military aircraft was transported “Ukrainian Soldiers for Exchange”. According to Moscow, the Ukrainian military “Known” The Russians would fly the prisoners to Belgorod and then to a meeting point on the border.
Ukrainian intelligence, on the other hand, assured Kiev that it was not “not reported” The need to protect the airspace in the area. Ukraine does not know “Number of Vehicles, Route and Mode of Transport of Prisoners”He said Moscow deliberately blamed them in the case “Danger”. The Russian military, for its part, maintains that Ukrainian forces are deployed “Two Missiles” from “An anti-aircraft defense system” The Il-76 can shoot down a military transport plane and then do it “Blame Russia”.
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The Ukrainian military, in a statement released hours after the crash, without mentioning it directly, vowed to continue. “Destroy transport aircraft and control the airspace (…) including the Belgorod-Kharkiv region”.
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