Summary of the day …
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 on board. Russia claims the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoWs who were to be swapped, and that Ukrainian forces shot it down.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it hit the plane, but said Moscow had created a “deliberate threat to the life and safety” of its PoWs by failing to warn Kyiv to deconflict the airspace before the swap. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society.”
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, has told Reuters that the list shared in Russian media of Ukrainian prisoners of war claimed to have been on board the plane that crashed over Belgorod region on Wednesday has discrepancies in it. “We found Ukrainian citizens in the list who have already been previously exchanged,” he said. Reports in Russia have said that investigators will need DNA samples in order to identify the dead.
Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov insisted in an interview with Radio Svoboda 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 has jailed Igor Girkin, 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 Vladlen Tatarsky. He was killed by a bomb concealed inside a statuette in his likeness that Trepova had presented to him as a gift during a talk he was giving in a St Petersburg cafe.
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.
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Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, has told Reuters that the list shared in Russian media of Ukrainian prisoners of war claimed to have been on board the plane that crashed over Belgorod region on Wednesday has discrepancies in it.
“We found Ukrainian citizens in the list who have already been previously exchanged,” he said.
Tass had earlier reported that investigators at the crash would require DNA samples to be able to identify the dead.
It went on to say that “after identifying all the dead, relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war can be recognised as victims in a criminal case” which would be laid against Kyiv for being “responsible for the deaths of its compatriots”.
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In Hungary, the pro-government news portal Index has interviewed the speaker of parliament, László Kövér, about the diplomatic standoff between Hungary and Sweden over Stockholm’s attempts to join Nato, which he said there was no urgency to resolve.
His words underline some of the strength of feeling in the process. He said: “Why should this be uncomfortable for us? If the Swedes don’t, I don’t feel bad for a second. On the other hand, someone has to be last.”
Hungary’s ratification is the only remaining obstacle to Sweden joining.
Asked if the situation was diplomatically awkward and illustrated a failure of Hungarian diplomacy, he said:
We have already stated our problems quite clearly. Hungary takes seriously the fact that Nato … is a defence alliance of equal and sovereign states. But let it be clear to everyone: the member states voluntarily undertake the obligation that if any other ally is attacked, it will automatically be considered as if it is directed against them. Does everyone understand how much responsibility this is?
This requires a degree of trust that is stronger than that. Now, let’s see how Sweden has treated Hungary in the past period, since their accession was on the agenda, with what arrogance and negligence they treated us. It is not entirely clear to me whether they are aware of what the alliance they want to enter actually means.
It’s about the fact that the Swedes – I would like to note that the Finns as well – have gone so far in defaming Hungary, defaming the democratically elected government.
Especially considering that after the parliament ratified the Finns’ accession with good intentions, Finland immediately joined the proceedings against Hungary before the European court of justice. Simply because we want to protect our children from LGBTQ brainwashing at all costs. Do they honestly think that they want to make a life-or-death contract with us, to whom they refuse to show the slightest respect?
He did not seem to hold out much hope of a quick resolution in Hungary’s parliament, saying of the prospect of an extraordinary session:
I have no doubt that one of the opposition parties, which usually do not serve Hungarian interests, will initiate the convening of this, probably without success. Anyway, I don’t feel that anything is urgent, and in fact, I don’t think an extraordinary situation has arisen.
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Six people were injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa. Here are some of the images sent over the newswires from the scene.
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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.
The assembly was addressed by Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, who said parliaments need to work together “to force Russia to comply with at least the Geneva conventions and immediately provide comprehensive lists with the names and whereabouts of all Ukrainian children who have been illegally deported.”
In its resolution, the assembly called on national parliaments to adopt resolutions “recognising these crimes as genocide”, and asked the international community to collaborate with Ukraine to trace and repatriate missing children.
Pace is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, and is made up of lawmakers from among the 46 members of the organisation.
In March 2023 the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children, as well as a warrant for Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
In December, Ukraine said that over 19,540 children had been illegally deported by Russia.
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Ukrinform reports that Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has arrived in Kyiv.
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Russia jails ultra-nationalist Putin critic Igor Girkin
A Moscow court has jailed Igor Girkin, a prominent ultra-nationalist critic of Vladimir Putin.
A former battlefield commander of Russian proxy forces in east Ukraine who was convicted by a Dutch court over the shooting down of flight MH17, Girkin was sentenced to four years in jail on extremism charges prompted by his criticism of the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
Girkin, who also goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov, was a leading military commander of the pro-Russian forces who occupied eastern Ukrainian cities beginning in 2014. His armed intervention backed by Russia marked the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
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.
His arrest and subsequent jailing is seen as a sign that the Kremlin has decided to clamp down on any dissent, even among those who support Moscow’s invasion.
Girkin was previously found guilty in absentia by a Dutch court of the murder of 298 people onboard flight MH17, the plane shot down while flying over east Ukraine in July 2014.
The Dutch court gave him a life sentence for his role in sending a Buk surface-to-air missile system controlled by Russia to a field near the village of Pervomaisky from where it fired on the passenger jet. Russia has been accused of harbouring Girkin.
Read more of Pjotr Sauer’s report here: Russia jails ultra-nationalist Putin critic Igor Girkin
A little more here on Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov’s interview with Radio Svoboda.
He insisted Kyiv received neither a written nor verbal request from Russia to secure airspace around the area of Belgorod, and claimed that two other Russian military transport planes, an An-26 and an An-72, were simultaneously in the airspace.
Yusov stressed that Belgorod airfield was actively used by Russia for military supplies.
During the last prisoner exchange, when air transport was used, Russia asked Ukraine to secure airspace, he added. “This time, the aggressor state did not make such requests.”
We reported earlier that he also said “Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons.”
Russian woman jailed for 27 years over St Petersburg blast death of war blogger
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 blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
Tatarsky was killed by a bomb concealed inside a statuette in his likeness that Trepova had presented to him as a gift during a talk he was giving in a St Petersburg cafe.
Trepova said she had been set up, and had thought the statuette contained a listening device, not a bomb.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the country’s most influential military bloggers. More than 30 people were wounded in the blast.
Reuters reports she told the trial she was acting under orders from a man in Ukraine whom she knew as “Gestalt” (German for “Shape”), who had been sending her money and instructions for several months before the cafe bombing.
Trepova said she had gone along with Gestalt’s instructions because she assumed the purpose of eavesdropping on Tatarsky was to find out more of what he knew about the war, which she opposed.
“I feel great pain and shame that my gullibility and my naivety led to such catastrophic consequences. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she told the court earlier this week. “I feel especial pain and shame that a terrorist act was carried out by my own hands.”
Russia accused Ukraine immediately after the attack of organising the murder of Tatarsky. Senior Ukrainian officials have neither claimed responsibility nor denied involvement in Tatarsky’s death.
The defence said Trepova too was a victim because she could herself have been killed or wounded.
After the bomb went off, a friend of her husband called Dmitry Kasintsev let her stay at his apartment that night. She was arrested there the following day.
Kasintsev was sentenced on Thursday to one year and nine months for helping her to hide, despite testimony from Trepova that she had never met him before and he had nothing to do with the bomb.
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Fragments of what appears to be a missile have been found at the site where a Russian military plane crashed in the Belgorod region, the Tass news agency has cited emergency services as saying.
Russia says Ukraine downed the plane, which it says was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war for a swap. Ukraine has not confirmed or denied that it hit the plane.
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Kyiv claims it received no request from Russia to secure airspace around Belgorod before military plane crash
Kyiv has reiterated that it received neither a written nor verbal request from Russia to secure airspace around the area of Belgorod where a Russian military transport plane crashed, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Radio Svoboda.
Russia said the Ilyushin Il-76 military plane was carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers. Yusov said Kyiv does not have enough evidence to believe that.
Yusov said:
Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons for S-300 systems.
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Vladimir Putin arrives for visit to Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad
Russia’s RIA news agency reports that president Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. Earlier today Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the visit was not intended to send a message to Nato. However, the Kremlin has said that “militaristic statements from Baltic countries” demonstrated there was a risk for Kaliningrad.
Tass reports that Putin’s itinerary includes visiting students at the university there, and a meeting with the regional governor. It is also reported that Putin will formally open a plant making solar batteries.
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Ukraine is close to being self-sufficient in gas for 2024, and may resume electricity exports in the spring, the energy minister said on Thursday.
“We are close to it. It is realistic to reach the zero gas balance this year,” German Galushchenko told Reuters in an interview.
Ukraine has not bought gas from Russia since 2015, importing from European countries instead and increasing its own production.
Galushchenko also suggested that Ukraine could resume substantial energy exports as early as this spring, citing lower consumption.
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Swedish PM offers to meet Viktor Orbán in Brussels over Nato membership delay
Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson has responded to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán wanting more talks between the two nations over Sweden’s bid to join Nato by suggesting the pair meet in Brussels. Orbán had extended an invitation for the discussion to take place in Budapest.
Sweden’s SVT reports that in a letter, Kristersson said: “I agree with you that a more intensive political dialogue between our countries would be beneficial.
“There are, as you mention, several issues of common interest … I look forward to discussing all these issues with you in more depth in Budapest at a time convenient for both of us.”
However, he went on to point out: “We will also have an opportunity to meet at the European Council in Brussels.” The next special European Council meeting is scheduled for 1 February 2024.
The letter also informed Orbán: “The completion of the ratification process of Sweden’s Nato membership in the Hungarian parliament will create a solid foundation to move ahead in our bilateral relationship, and to reinforce mutual understanding and trust.”
Sweden and Finland applied to join Nato in May 2022. Finland joined the alliance in April 2023, but Sweden’s accession has yet to be completed.
On Tuesday, Turkey’s parliament finally ratified Swedish membership, putting the country a step closer to accession – but it is still awaiting the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s signature. Hungary’s parliament has yet to ratify, and Orbán has seemed in no mood to hurry along the process.
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Sergei Boiko, the head of Russia’s Tuapse district, has confirmed on Telegram that overnight there was a fire at the Rosneft-owned oil refinery situated there on the coast of the Black Sea. Earlier, Ukrainian sources had claimed the fire was the result of a special forces operation.
Pictures shared on social media appear to show that a large fire had been burning at the plant. Boiko said there were no casualties reported.
The mayor in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk has posted to Telegram to report that two women have been injured by “dropping ammunition from a drone in the Kirovskyi district”.
Ukraine’s largest oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has reported that it is suffering “a large-scale cyber-attack” on one of its datacentres. It reports via its Telegram channel that “the website and call centre are currently down”.
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Reuters is also carrying some quotes about the apparent attack on the oil refinery in Tuapse. A source told the news agency that Kyiv would continue attacking facilities providing fuel for the Russian military.
“The SBU strikes deep into the Russian Federation and continues attacks on facilities which are not only important for the Russian economy, but also provide fuel for the enemy troops,” the source said.
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Ukraine’s SBU is claiming credit for a fire at the oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia.
Suspilne reports sources told it “this plant supplies fuel to Russian troops. The oil depot was attacked by drones. As a result of the fire, the facility for the primary processing of oil products … was damaged.”
Tuapse is on the coast of the Black Sea, to the north-west of Sochi. The claims have not been independently verified.
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Russia and Ukraine will continue exchanging prisoners of war despite the downing of a Russian military plane, the Interfax news agency cited Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov as saying on Thursday.
Kartapolov said Russia would talk with “even the devil” to bring back its captured soldiers, Reuters reports Interfax said.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russia is “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war” after Moscow accused Kyiv of downing a large military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to an exchange. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied it hit the plane. Here is a clip of Zelenksiy’s address.
In Russia, Tass reports that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s response to the call by Ukraine’s president for an investigation into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian transport plane in Belgorod yesterday was to call for an investigation into Kyiv’s actions.
It quotes Peskov saying “If [Zelenskiy] means an international investigation into the criminal actions of the Kyiv regime, it is definitely necessary.”
Citing the head of the regional press office, Suspline in Ukraine is reporting that one of the medics injured during yesterday’s Russian shelling of a hospital in Kherson is in a serious condition.
Reuters, citing the RIA news agency in Russia, reports that both black boxes have been recovered from the crashed Russian transport plane in the Belgorod region.
Moscow 'playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners', says Zelenskiy
“The Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society,” the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in his evening address.
Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers travelling to a prisoner exchange. Ukraine called for full clarification of the circumstances of the incident, but did not directly confirm it had shot down the plane.
Zelenskiy, in his evening address said: “It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society.”
Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk accused Russia of trying to undermine international support for Ukraine.
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself and destroy the means of the aggressors’ aerial attack,” he said.
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Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called for full clarity into the circumstances of the crash of a Russian plane in the Belgorod region that killed everyone onboard.
Russian officials accuse Ukraine of deliberately shooting down the Il-76 military transport and claim it was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war due to take part in a swap. Ukrainian military intelligence said it did not have “reliable and comprehensive” information about who or what was onboard the flight.
A drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa injured one person and started a fire, the regional governor said. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, the governor said the attack had damaged housing in the city.
The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said its allies needed 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% cent of the territory stolen by Russia … but Kyiv needs more support – and not just from the UK.”
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.
Viktor Orbán has said he will urge the Hungarian parliament to sign off on Sweden’s Nato bid “at the first possible opportunity”, as diplomats said Hungary’s allies were “exasperated” by the country’s foot-dragging. Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022, but its accession was delayed as Turkey and Hungary strung out the ratification process.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has called out US TV network HBO for casting a Serbian actor it says backs the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the next season of hit show The White Lotus. Miloš Biković was given Russian citizenship in 2021 and was personally honoured by Vladimir Putin for his contribution to Russian arts.
This is Martin Belam with you today. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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