WORLD BRIEFING: January 26, 2024
Ukraine and Russia have contradicted each other over whether there had been proper notification to secure the airspace around an area where a military transport plane Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs crashed, killing them and nine others on board. Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov told deputies in Moscow on January 25 that Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane entered the Belgorod region in Russia, near the border with Ukraine, and that Russia had received confirmation the message was received. Kartapolov did not provide any evidence to back up his claim and Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov reiterated in comments to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that it had not received either a written or verbal request to secure the airspace where the plane went down. Yusov said Ukraine had been using reconnaissance drones in the area and that Russia had launched attack drones. There was "no confirmed information" that Ukraine had hit any targets, he 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," he told RFE/RL.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called by Russia, the Russian delegation’s deputy at the UN said that Ukraine was not only responsible for the downing of one of its military transport planes near Belgorod but that it also brought down MH17 in 2014. It’s an extraordinary claim to make given that three men associated with Russia have already been convicted by The Hague for the downing of MH17 and more charges are likely to come. Irrefutable evidence showed that the Boeing 777 with 298 souls aboard was downed by a Russian BUK missile
The list of prisoners of war claimed by Russian propagandists to have been on board the Il-76 aircraft that crashed on Jan. 24 includes those who had already been swapped before, Ukraine's chief Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets told Sky News on Jan. 25. Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan shared the list of Ukrainian POWs who were allegedly on board the Il-76 aircraft on the evening of Jan 24, with Kyiv not confirming the claims and calling for an international investigation. Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne analyzed the list and confirmed that most of the names were previously mentioned as being POWs or missing persons, and that some had appeared in captivity in Russian propaganda videos. “We found Ukrainian citizens in the list who have already been previously exchanged," Lubinets said - Kyiv Independent
Ukraine went from firing 8,000 shells per day during its counteroffensive in the summer to just 2,000 in recent weeks, according to a platoon commander. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, Ukraine’s commander of operations in the south-east, told reporters in December that his forces faced a shortage of artillery shells due to the lack of western military assistance, forcing troops to scale back some operations along the 1,000km front line - FT
Qatar has said it is "appalled" by remarks attributed to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he apparently called its role as a mediator in the Gaza war "problematic". Israeli TV broadcast what it said was a recording of Mr Netanyahu telling the families of hostages held by Hamas that "you don't hear me thanking Qatar". "They have leverage... because they finance [Hamas]," he reportedly adds. Qatar said the comments, if true, were "irresponsible" but "not surprising" - BBC
Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu on Wednesday renewed his call for striking the Gaza Strip with a “nuclear bomb.” “Even in The Hague they know my position,” The Times of Israel newspaper quoted Eliyahu as saying during a tour in the West Bank city of Hebron, in reference to his previous call for using nuclear weapons in the Gaza Strip.In November, Eliyahu said dropping a “nuclear bomb” on the Gaza Strip is “an option.” The hardline minister, who has extremist rhetoric against Palestinians, also called for encouraging Gaza’s population to migrate from the enclave - Anadolu
British negotiators walked away from trade talks with Canada Thursday — a dramatic development that taps the brakes on a bilateral trade deal between the two Commonwealth nations that has been years in the making. A major sticking point between the two sides remains how much tariff-free access U.K. producers should have to the Canadian cheese market. Dairy farmers want to keep their supply-managed and heavily protected sector out of this deal - CBC
Italy's lower chamber of parliament on Wednesday approved a novel government deal with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests, a cornerstone of Premier Giorgia Meloni's efforts to share the migration burden with the rest of Europe. The proposal, which passed 155-115 with two abstentions in the Chamber of Deputies, now goes to the Senate, where Meloni's right-wing forces also have a comfortable majority. Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the groundbreaking initiative last November, in which Albania would shelter up to 36,000 migrants for a year in two centers while Italy fast-tracks their asylum requests.
A political furore over a luxury handbag gifted to South Korea’s first lady caused a rupture at the top of the country’s ruling party this week, drawing accusations of abuse of power less than three months ahead of parliamentary elections. The scandal traces back to December last year, when a liberal YouTube channel revealed Kim Keon Hee, the wife of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, had received a Christian Dior bag worth about Won3mn ($2,200) from a Korean-American pastor, Choi Jae-young. The footage has prompted calls from across the political spectrum for an apology and investigation into whether the presidential couple violated anti-bribery laws - FT
