Ukraine-Russia war: Downing plane was 'act of terrorism,' says Moscow

Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukraine of downing a military plane in an “act of terrorism”.

It said the Il-76 transport aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine others when it crashed in the Belgorod border region on Wednesday morning.

Ukraine has not officially commented on the incident, but sources have claimed the plane was transporting missiles.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed Ukraine had launched two missiles at the aircraft from near the village of Lyptsi in Kharkiv, 56 miles to the south-west of the crash site near the village of Yablonovo.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said everybody on board the plane had been killed.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of state-controlled Russia Today, posted pictures on X of a list of 65 names which she claimed belonged to prisoners of war on board the plane. The list could not be verified.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency, said that a planned prisoner swap that was due to take place on Wednesday has now been cancelled.

03:13 PM GMT

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03:12 PM GMT

Today's headlines

• The European Union will refuse to seize its portion of the £236billion ($300billion) worth of Russian assets frozen in the West, Reuters reported

• The Institute for the Study of War think tank said Ukraine’s defensive tactics are suffocating Russian attempts to advance

• Russia is conducting probing attacks along the frontline in a bid to find weaknesses in the Ukrainian armed forces, a senior Pentagon official said

• Turkey’s parliament voted on Tuesday night to approve Sweden’s application to join Nato

• Viktor Orban said Hungary - the last remaining Nato member to ratify Sweden’s application - would soon follow suit

• A Russian military plane crashed to the ground in an explosion in the Belgorod border region

• Russia said a Ukrainian “act of terrorism” downed the Il-76 transport aircraft, killing all 76 passengers on board including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war

• Ukrainian military sources claimed responsibility and said S-300 missiles were being transported on the plane

• In an official comment, the Ukrainian military said it would “continue” to “control the airspace to eliminate the terrorist threat”

• Ukraine has issued no official rebuttals of Russia’s allegations

03:02 PM GMT

Ukrainian military does not deny shooting down POWs on Il-76

The Ukrainian military has not denied shooting down the Il-76 or that there were Ukrainian prisoners of war on board in its first statement since the transport plane crashed in Belgorod.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are taking all measures to protect Ukraine and Ukrainians,” it said in a statement posted on Facebook.

It added: “In order to reduce the missile threat, the Armed Forces of Ukraine not only control the airspace, but also closely monitor missile launch points and the logistics of their supply, especially with the use of military transport aircraft.

“The recorded intensity of the shelling is directly related to the increase in the number of military transport aircraft that have recently been flying to the Belgorod airfield.

“With this in mind, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy delivery vehicles and control the airspace to eliminate the terrorist threat, including on the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction.”

02:42 PM GMT

Pictured: Richard Tice delivers pick-up to Ukraine

02:30 PM GMT

Stoltenberg hails Orban for backing Sweden's Nato membership

Jens Stoltenberg has praised Viktor Orban after he called for Hungary’s parliament to back Sweden’s application to Nato.

“Good call with Viktor Orban of Hungary,” the Nato secretary general wrote on X.

“I welcome the clear support of the Prime Minister and his government for Sweden’s Nato membership. I look forward to the ratification as soon as parliament reconvenes.”

02:04 PM GMT

Analysis: Why you should not take Russia's claims at face value

We are in the middle of an information war where one side’s public statements can easily create a narrative strong enough to deal a near-fatal blow to the other, reports Brussels Correspondent Joe Barnes.

When the Russian Il-76 transport plane appeared to fall out of the sky over the Russian region of Belgorod, initial reports, citing Ukrainian sources, claimed it was Kyiv’s forces that had downed the jet.

But soon after reports from Russia, including its defence ministry, started suggesting rather than S-300 missiles the heavy lifter had been transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war that were due to be part of an exchange between Moscow and Kyiv.

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, who is subject to international sanctions, was quick to publish a manifest of the 65 captured Ukrainian military personnel that were said to be aboard the plane.

This alone does not provide sufficient evidence to confirm that there were indeed 74 people, including six crew and three accompanying people, travelling on the Il-76 as it plunged to the ground.

If Russia really wanted to prove that Ukraine had indeed downed a jet with its own prisoners of war on, it could have easily also published video or pictures showing the Ukrainians boarding the aircraft.

Alternatively, Moscow could have published details that prove Ukraine was aware of how its captured personnel were being transported – often a key detail when prisoner swaps are agreed.

If the Kremlin’s claims are genuine, it would not only pose Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky a domestic headache but also an international one, with the US and other Western allies not keen for their missiles to be fired into mainland Russia.

There is further evidence that suggests Moscow’s claims are futile.

Pictures of the debris of the jet on the ground appear to show no signs of the lifeless bodies of those travelling on board.

When MH17, the Malaysia Airlines flight travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed over the Donbas in 2014, photographs from the crash scene clearly showed bodies among the wreckage.

And then there is geolocated footage shared on social media, which the Kremlin has disputed, that purports showing the plane as leaving Belgorod, rather than landing there, when it was shot down.

Russia as it stands is winning the information battle, because Kyiv refuses to issue any sort of meaningful public statement regarding Moscow’s claims.

01:51 PM GMT

Ukraine to make official statement on Il-76 'later'

Ukraine will make an official statement “later” on allegations that it shot down a Russian transport plane carrying 65 of its own prisoners of war.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, told Reuters: “Comments will be made a little later. It will take time to clarify all the data.”

01:39 PM GMT

Orban calls on Hungarian parliament to welcome Sweden to Nato

Viktor Orban has called on Hungary’s parliament to approve Sweden’s application to join Nato.

“Just finished a phone call with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,” Mr Orban wrote on X.

“I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the Nato membership of Sweden. I also stressed that we will continue to urge the Hungarian National Assembly to vote in favor of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity.”

Hungary is now the only member of the alliance which has not ratified Sweden’s membership.

Turkey’s parliament voted to approve Sweden’s membership on Tuesday.

01:07 PM GMT

RT editor-in-chief 'publishes list of POW names on board plane'

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today, has posted pictures on X of a list of 65 names which she claims are those of Ukrainian prisoners of war who were on board the downed Il-76.

She did not disclose where the information came from and the list could not be verified.

RT is widely considered to be a Russian propaganda channel.

01:00 PM GMT

Watch: Girl rescued from rubble in Kharkiv

12:52 PM GMT

Russian account 'contradicts geolocation'

Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that the Il-76 was shot down as it flew from the Chkalovsky air base near Moscow to Belgorod.

But geolocated footage of the explosion suggests that the plane was flying to the north or north-west of the village of Yablonovo, Belgorod.

That suggests that the aircraft was flying away from Belgorod, not towards it.

12:36 PM GMT

Transport plane 'shot down by two missiles' in 'act of terrorism'

Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukraine of shooting down the Il-76 transport aircraft using two anti-aircraft missiles fired from the village of Lyptsi in Kharkiv.

It said its radar had detected two Ukrainian missiles being launched and said Kyiv was guilty of an “act of terrorism”.

Lyptsi is 56 miles to the south west of the crash site in Yablonovo, Belgorod.

12:27 PM GMT

Planned prisoner swap cancelled

A prisoner of war swap between Ukraine and Russia was due to take place today but has now been cancelled.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency, told Radio Liberty: “But I can state that the exchange planned for today is currently not taking place.”

He did not comment on Russian allegations that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on the Il-76 plane shot down on Wednesday morning.

12:05 PM GMT

Russian artillery strike on Kherson hospital wounds doctors

A Russian artillery strike on a Kherson hospital wounded two medics and a 60-year-old woman.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the region’s military governor, said their injuries were being treated.

11:47 AM GMT

Ukraine shot down plane 'deliberately', MP claims

A Russian MP has claimed that Ukraine made an “absolutely deliberate” decision to shoot down the Il-76 and that it knew prisoners of war were on board.

“It was absolutely deliberate,” said Andrei Kartapalov, a retired general and former deputy defence minister

“They knew very well that the plane was en route, where it was going and the operators of surface-to-air missile systems cannot mistake transport planes for military planes or helicopters as targets.

“It was done deliberately to sabotage the prisoner exchange.”

Ukraine is yet to officially comment on the incident.

11:37 AM GMT

Russia officially accuses Ukraine of downing plane

Russia has officially accused Ukraine of downing the military aircraft which crashed in Belgorod on Wednesday morning.

State news agency Tass quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying: “Kyiv has committed an act of insane barbarism by shooting down Il-76 and questioned the possibility of any [hostage release] agreements.”

11:15 AM GMT

Ukraine's POW body declines to comment on aircraft

Ukraine’s prisoners of war organisation has declined to comment on reports that 65 Ukrainian POWs were on board the Il-76 transport aircraft shot down over Belgorod.

“We urge the media and citizens to refrain from disseminating unverified information until official statements or comments are made public by authorised persons or bodies,” the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.

“We emphasise that the enemy is actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilising Ukrainian society.

“We ask you to be responsible for disseminating sensitive information and use only official sources.”

11:11 AM GMT

Everyone on board crashed plane is dead, governor says

The governor of Belgorod has said everybody on board the Russian Il-76 transport plane which crashed on Wednesday morning was dead.

He did not specify how many people died. The Russian defence ministry says 65 Ukrainian POWs and nine others were on board.

“A transport airplane crashed in the Korochansky district,” he said. “It went down in a field near a populated area. All those on board were killed.
⠀
“Now the crash site is cordoned off. All operational services are on site, investigative measures are being carried out.

“A commission is being sent to the site to establish the causes of the crash.”

11:06 AM GMT

Putin's repression of anti-war critics increasing, says MoD

Vladimir Putin’s repression of Russians who criticise the war in Ukraine is intensifying, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said the Russian state Duma was discussing a bill “to seize the financial assets, including property, of Russians who openly criticise the Russian military and the ‘special military operation’.”

It added: “This legislation highly likely seeks to deter and silence anti-war opposition.

“This recent bill in conjunction with the Foreign Agents measures, likely intends to restrict criticism of the war altogether.”

10:43 AM GMT

Ukraine's future is in the West's hands, Shapps says

British defence secretary Grant Shapps has said the future of Ukraine “is in the West’s hands”.

“There’s no world in which Putin can be allowed to win,” he wrote in Politico. “Not only would it embolden him, putting our other Eastern European allies in Russia’s crosshairs, but it would also signal to China that everything is up for grabs.

“There can be no wavering. No fence-sitting. No waiting to see which way the wind blows.

“Putin believes the West can be worn down. He believes we lack strategic patience. And we must prove him wrong. In this great year of democracy, Ukraine’s future is in the West’s hands. We cannot let them down.”

10:18 AM GMT

Plane shot down by three missiles, says Russian MP

A Russian member of parliament has said the Il-76 aircraft was shot down by three missiles.

Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general and former deputy defence minister, told the Duma that the missiles were fired from Patriot or Iris-T surface-to-air missile launchers.

He claimed it was an attempted false flag operation conducted by the Ukrainians in an attempt to discredit Russia.

Evgeniy Popov, another member of the Duma, said the Russian armed forces had told Ukraine that the plane was carrying 65 prisoners of war and that its planned route had been shared with them.

He claimed on Telegram that a second Il-76 with 80 prisoners of war on board had been following the plane but turned around after it was downed.

10:06 AM GMT

Russia launching ‘probing attacks’ to find Ukrainian weaknesses

Russia is conducting probing attacks along the frontline in a bid to find weaknesses in the Ukrainian armed forces.

A senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday that Moscow’s forces planned to force Ukraine into expending precious ammunition, missiles and drones in countering the attacks.

“They’ve not succeeded so far,” Celeste Wallander, an assistant defence secretary, said. “Ukrainians have a lot of experience over the last few years on how to cope with these kinds of Russian assaults.”

Ukraine has shifted to “active defence” tactics in recent weeks and is constructing dense fortifications behind its lines.

A new US funding package worth £48 billion ($61 billion) proposed by Joe Biden remains held up in Congress, where Republicans are refusing to agree to it without concessions on immigration.

10:00 AM GMT

Kremlin declines to comment on Belgorod crash

The Kremlin has declined to comment on the shooting down of the Il-76 transport plane in Belgorod.

“This is quite new, fresh information, we will deal with it now. I can’t say anything yet,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

09:44 AM GMT

Russian MoD claims 65 Ukrainian POWs were on crashed transport plane

The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board the military transport plane which crashed in Belgorod on Wednesday morning.

It told state news agency RIA Novosti that they were on board and on their way to be exchanged with Russians held by Ukraine.

It added that six crew members and three others were also on the plane, bringing the potential death toll to 74.

09:31 AM GMT

Russian military plane 'crashes in Belgorod with 63 on board'

A Russian military plane is reported to have crashed in the Belgorod border region, killing all 63 people on board.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said there had been an “incident” in the Korochansky district on Wednesday morning and search and rescue specialists had been dispatched to the site.

The 112 Telegram channel cited sources who said an Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed in the village of Yablonovo, 29 miles north of the Ukrainian border.

It added that all 63 people on board are thought to have died.

The Blatgorod channel, which reports news from the Belgorod region, published video footage of a plane crashing to the ground and exploding into a fireball.

09:17 AM GMT

In pictures: Third wave of Kharkiv strikes injure nine

08:55 AM GMT

Ukrainians down 200 drones in one day on southern front

Ukrainian soldiers defending the southern front shot down 200 drones in the past 24 hours.

Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavriia army group, said his men had inflicted almost 400 casualties during the same period.

“Over the past day, 200 different enemy UAVs were damaged or destroyed,” he wrote on Telegram.

08:25 AM GMT

Germany to give helicopters to Ukraine for first time

Germany will donate military helicopters to Ukraine for the first time.

Defence minister Boris Pistorius said six Sea King helicopters would be sent to Kyiv along with spare parts and training for pilots.

“The Sea King is a proven and reliable helicopter that will help Ukrainians in many areas: from reconnaissance over the Black Sea to transporting soldiers,” Mr Pistorius.

“This is the first German delivery of this type.”

Earlier this month, chancellor Olaf Scholz told Joe Biden that Berlin plans to unilaterally provide Ukraine with more than £6billion ($7.6billion) in aid in 2024.

08:03 AM GMT

Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden's Nato application

Turkey’s parliament voted on Tuesday night to approve Sweden’s application to join Nato, leaving Hungary as the only alliance member yet to ratify its membership.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to sign the legislation in the next few days.

“Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of Nato,” said Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister.

The Scandinavian country applied to join Nato after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 but Turkey had withheld its support over what it said was Swedish backing for Kurdish separatists.

07:49 AM GMT

Canada’s new military aid for Ukraine worth only £11m

A new military aid package for Ukraine announced by Canada on Tuesday is worth only £11million ($14million).

The package includes 10 inflatable boats and English language training for Ukrainian Air Force pilots training on F16 fighter jets.

“We continue to strengthen our collaboration and coordination to provide Ukraine with the military aid it needs to defend its sovereignty and security,” defence minister Bill Blair said.

Canada has provided £1.4billion ($1.8billion) in aid to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.

07:32 AM GMT

ISW: Ukrainian defence tactics suffocating Russian advances

Ukraine’s defensive tactics are suffocating Russian attempts to advance, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank has said.

It cited reports from Russian military bloggers that Ukrainian solders attack every Russian formation larger than a battalion and every formation which includes armoured vehicles.

The bloggers said Ukrainian technological advances were also enabling it to detect Russian forces as they gather and prepare for assaults.

The ISW said Russia’s armed forces were hampered by “systemic” weaknesses in artillery, attrition, planning, anti-drone defences and their commanders’ inclination towards large-scale “meat assaults” on Ukrainian positions.

“Russian forces have recently proven themselves capable of making marginal tactical advances during intensified offensive efforts even with these systemic issues, however, particularly near Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast and Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast,” it added.

Ukraine’s new “active defence” strategy could see it adopt a defensive posture throughout 2024 in a bid to regroup for a new counter-attack in 2025.

07:25 AM GMT

Pictured: Missile damage in Kharkiv

07:22 AM GMT

EU will refuse to seize frozen Russian assets

The European Union will refuse to seize its portion of the £236billion ($300billion) worth of Russian assets frozen in the West.

Senior officials told Reuters that the bloc fears it would be illegal to seize the £157billion ($200billion) of that which is held in Europe.

“Confiscation of the capital of the Russian assets is not going to happen,” one said.

The G7 will discuss the legality of the move at a meeting in February.

The Kremlin has vowed to retaliate and seize the investments of Western companies in Russia if its frozen assets are confiscated.

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