WORLD BRIEFING: January 25, 2024
Russia has blamed Ukraine for the crash of a military plane that was reportedly carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were due to be part of a prisoner swap. No evidence was provided and the BBC has not yet verified who was on board, or what caused the plane to crash. Ukraine’s statement in response to Russia’s accusations, however, did not offer a strong rebuttal.
Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne analyzed a list that Russia Today’s Margarita Simonyan shared with the names of the Ukrainian POWs allegedly killed in the crash, confirming that the list of names are in fact Ukrainian soldiers currently held by Russia. Suspilne could not confirm, however, that those on the list were actually on the plane when it crashed, nor that they were potentially part of a prisoner exchange.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday evening he would insist on an international investigation. In reply Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Kyiv of killing its own soldiers. He called the downing of the plane “a monstrous act … beyond comprehension” and said Moscow would welcome an international inquiry. “If he means an international investigation into the criminal acts of the Kyiv regime, then it is definitely needed,” Peskov told journalists - WSJ
The Russian Il-76 plane was most likely shot down by friendly fire in the form of a S-300 missile that was directed at Kharkiv - Ukrainian military analyst Roman Svitan. “At the moment when the Il-76 was shot down, the Russian S-300 was operating over Kharkiv. Therefore, it is most likely the so-called ‘ friendly fire’ when the IL-76 was hit by these missiles,” he told UkrInform
Odesa opposition MP Oleksij Goncharenko hit out at the Zelensky administration for allowing Moscow to gain the upper hand in the propaganda war over the crash of the Russian military transport plane. “After a long silence from the authorities regarding the events around the Il-76, the OP (office of the president) could not come up with anything better than to declare that the president would not celebrate his birthday in connection with the events around the plane. At the same time, such a statement was made only late in the evening, while the Kremlin managed to pull off an information campaign and achieve the convening of the UN Security Council,” he said on his YouTube channel
The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford, Eastern Europe correspondent, said “a Ukrainian statement is implicit acknowledgement from Kyiv that it did shoot down the Russian military transport plane. Crucially, it says it has no verified information on who was on board. The intelligence service confirmed that a prisoner swap was planned today. It says it would normally get advance information on the routes and transport Russia planned to use. This time, Ukraine says, it was not told to keep the skies over Belgorod clear. It suggests that may have been deliberate.”
Two tank shells hit a UN compound housing displaced civilians in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing nine people and injuring several more, according to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees.
Israeli air strikes and ground operations were focused Thursday on the Gazan city of Khan Yunis, where the UN said nine people were killed by tank shelling at one of its shelters the day before. The deadly incident came after the Israeli army said it had encircled the city, where footage released by the military showed soldiers engaged in urban combat amid ruined buildings. Hamas's press office also reported fierce clashes in the centre and west of Khan Yunis, while its health ministry counted multiple deaths overnight from strikes in the city and elsewhere in the territory. It said four children were killed in the Nuseirat camp in an early morning bombardment on Thursday - AFP
The European Union is unlikely to confiscate Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe, despite G7 plans to discuss the legality of such a move at a meeting in February, senior EU officials said.The EU, United States, Japan and Canada froze some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Some $200 billion of that is held in Europe, mainly in the Belgian clearing house Euroclear. The discussion comes as U.S. President Joe Biden faces Republican opposition to his request for another $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. The EU is also struggling to agree on a 50 billion euro ($54.36 billion) aid package for Ukraine until 2027 because of opposition from Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has close ties with Moscow. Confiscating the Russian assets and handing them over to Kyiv would ease the pressure on the West to finance Ukraine's war effort, but European officials dismiss it as too legally risky - Reuters
The venerable U.S. public broadcaster, NPR, has selected former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher to lead the network through an era of declining broadcast listenership, financial uncertainty and technological turbulence. In an interview ahead of the announcement of her appointment, Maher said her experience at the foundation underscores the importance of NPR's mission to serve the public independently of commercial interest. "There is a strong alignment in both of those organizations around integrity and autonomy," Maher said. She said she intends to build on the fierce loyalty instilled in many listeners for NPR's news programs and everything else. (She said she cringes at the word "content.")
