What happened in the Belgorod region? The day after the crash of a Russian military plane near the Ukrainian border, many questions remain. Moscow and kyiv accuse each other of disinformation. Russia announced on Thursday January 25 the opening of an investigation for “terrorism”. “A criminal investigation into a terrorist act is underway following the crash of an Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region”, said the Russian Investigative Committee in a press release. Moscow accuses kyiv of having shot down the plane and says it was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners. For its part, kyiv has not confirmed whether prisoners from its country were among the victims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international investigation. Follow our live stream.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. At the request of Moscow, which accuses Ukraine of having shot down a Russian military transport plane and killed all its passengers, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war to be exchanged, the UN Security Council meets Thursday evening. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 p.m. (French time).
France prefers not to comment. “We are not commenting on the plane that crashed yesterday in the Belgorod region: we are not in a position to say whether the Russian assertions are true or not. Russia has accustomed us to lying about these topics”declared the deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday evening during a press briefing.
Volodymyr Zelensky calls for an international investigation. The Ukrainian president has already instructed several state agencies to conduct their own investigations into the crash. kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian missiles, as Moscow maintains.
A strike from an American anti-aircraft battery? According to a French military source at franceinfo, The Yyushin 76 which crashed was hit by an American-made Patriot air defense battery held by the Ukrainian army. According to Russian authorities, no one survived the plane crash.
Russian attacks continue in Ukraine. kyiv announced Thursday that it had shot down 11 drones out of 14 launched by Russia overnight and which left several people injured in the southern regions of the country. Residential buildings and a warehouse were damaged near Odessa and Mykolaiv.