MOSCOW: Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people.
Ukraine called for full clarification of the circumstances of the incident and did not directly confirm it had shot down the plane.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 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.”
The Russian defense ministry said six Russian crew members and three Russian soldiers had been on the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane shot down near the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border.
After a long pause, the Ukrainian military said it would continue to destroy Russian military transport aircraft it believed were carrying missiles with which to strike Ukraine.
It said it had noticed more Russian military transport aircraft landing in Belgorod, something it linked to Russian missile strikes on Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities.
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.
The Russian defense ministry said the exchange was to have taken place on Wednesday afternoon at the Kolotilovka border checkpoint and Ukraine knew a transport plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers was expected at the Belgorod airfield.
“By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership has showed its true face. It disregarded the lives of its own citizens,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a meeting of the UN Security Council and said Russia sought to establish “the reasons behind the Ukrainian criminal act.”
A French spokesperson at the UN said the meeting would be held at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Thursday.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said Ukraine had not been asked to ensure airspace security around Belgorod unlike previous swaps and had not been informed about what means of transport would be used and which routes.
“On this basis, we may be talking about planned and deliberate actions by Russia to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our state,” GUR said in a statement on Telegram.
Russia’s defense ministry said radar operators had detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles at the time of the crash.
If the details are confirmed, it would be the deadliest incident of its kind inside Russia’s internationally recognized borders during the almost two-year-old war.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency confirmed a prisoner swap had been planned for Wednesday and said the captured Russian servicemen had been delivered to the agreed exchange point on time and were safe.
“Landing a transport plane in a 30-km combat zone cannot be safe and in any case must be discussed by both sides, because otherwise it jeopardizes the entire exchange process,” it said.
It had no reliable information about who was on the downed plane, it added.
Video footage posted on Telegram by Baza, a channel linked to Russian security services, and verified by Reuters, showed a large aircraft falling to the ground near the village of Yablonovo in Belgorod region and exploding in a fireball.
Andrei Kartapolov, a member of Russia’s parliament and a retired general, told the SHOT news outlet it was impossible for operators of Ukrainian surface-to-air missile systems to mistake transport planes for military planes or helicopters as targets.
“It was done deliberately to sabotage the prisoner exchange,” said Kartapolov, saying a second Russian Il-76 transport plane carrying around 80 Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange had managed to turn around.
Kartapolov, who has close links to the Russian defense ministry, said the plane had been downed by three missiles of either US or German manufacture.
Reuters could not immediately verify details of who was on board the downed plane, but Moscow and Kyiv have regularly swapped prisoners since Russia began what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.
The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under frequent attack from Ukraine in recent months, including a December missile strike which killed 25 people.
Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own POWs by shooting down plane
https://arab.news/cg9uh
Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own POWs by shooting down plane
- Ukrainian president: Russia “playing with the lives” of POWs
- Russia says 74 killed after military plane shot down
India inks 10-year deal to operate Iran’s Chabahar port
- India developing port to bypass Pakistan in bid to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia
- Washington says US sanctions on Iran “remain in place,” warns countries they will be imposed
NEW DELHI: India signed a 10-year contract with Iran on Monday to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar, the Narendra Modi-led government said, strengthening relations with a strategic Middle Eastern nation.
India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran’s south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the port of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.
US sanctions on Iran, however, slowed the port’s development.
“Chabahar Port’s significance transcends its role as a mere conduit between India and Iran; it serves as a vital trade artery connecting India with Afghanistan and Central Asian Countries,” India’s Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in Tehran, after the signing of the agreement.
“This linkage has unlocked new avenues for trade and fortified supply chain resilience across the region.”
US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, asked about the deal, told reporters that US sanctions on Iran remain in place and warned that Washington will continue to enforce them.
“Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran — they need to be aware of the potential risks that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions,” Patel told reporters.
The long-term deal was signed between Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) and the Port & Maritime Organization of Iran, authorities in both countries said.
Under the agreement, IPGL will invest about $120 million while there will be an additional $250 million in financing, bringing the contract’s value to $370 million, said Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash.
IPGL first took over operations of the port at the end of 2018 and has since handled container traffic of more than 90,000 TEUs and bulk and general cargo of more than 8.4 million tons, an Indian government official said.
A total of 2.5 million tons of wheat and 2,000 tons of pulses have been shipped from India to Afghanistan through Chabahar Port, the official added.
“It will clear the pathway for bigger investments to be made in the port,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai on Monday.
Blinken in Ukraine on unannounced visit to show US support
- Blinken arrived by overnight train from Poland and was due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Marking his fourth visit to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Blinken arrived by overnight train from Poland and was due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to an AFP journalist accompanying him.
The visit comes just weeks after the US Congress finally approved a $61 billion package of financial aid for Ukraine after months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country’s stretched troops.
The aid is expected to flow at an accelerated pace as Washington seeks to make up for lost months while Congress struggled to agree on assistance.
“First this trip is to send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians who are obviously in a very difficult moment both with grinding battle on the Eastern Front but also with the Russians now expanding some cross-border attacks into Kharkiv,” a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters aboard the train.
The secretary intends in particular to detail how US aid will “be executed in a fashion to help shore up their defenses and enable them to increasingly take back the initiative on the battlefield.”
The last visit by a senior US official was in March, when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan went to Ukraine.
Russia is “clearly throwing everything they have in the east and expanding the fighting to Kharkiv is representative of that strategy,” the official said.
“But we have a lot of confidence that the Ukrainians will increasingly be effective in pushing the Russians back as our assistance flows in both from the United States and other allies and partners.”
In addition to holding talks with Zelensky, Blinken is expected to meet with his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba as well as members of the civil society and additionally deliver a speech focused on “Ukraine’s strategic success.”
Also up for discussion is a bilateral defense agreement that the United States hopes to conclude before the NATO summit in Washington in July.
“The negotiations are in their final stages, we’re very close,” the US official said.
Biden signs ban on imports of Russian nuclear reactor fuel into law
- Russia is the world’s top supplier of enriched uranium, and about 24 percent of the enriched uranium used by US nuclear power plants come from the country
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a ban on Russian enriched uranium into law on Monday, the White House said, in the latest effort by Washington to disrupt President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ban on imports of the fuel for nuclear power plants begins in about 90 days, although it allows the Department of Energy to issue waivers in case of supply concerns.
Russia is the world’s top supplier of enriched uranium, and about 24 percent of the enriched uranium used by US nuclear power plants come from the country.
The law also unlocks about $2.7 billion in funding in previous legislation to build out the US uranium fuel industry.
“Today, President Biden signed into law a historic series of actions that will strengthen our nation’s energy and economic security by reducing, and ultimately eliminating, our reliance on Russia for civilian nuclear power,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said in a statement.
Sullivan said the law “delivers on multilateral goals we have set with our allies and partners,” including a pledge last December with Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom to collectively invest $4.2 billion to expand enrichment and conversion capacity of uranium.
The waivers, if implemented by the Energy Department, allow all the Russian uranium imports the US normally imports through 2027.
Police aim to break up pro-Palestine protests in Amsterdam
- The Eindhoven University of Technology confirmed that there were “dozens of students peacefully protesting outside next to ten to 15 tents”
AMSTERDAM: Police moved in to end a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam on Monday after protesters occupied university buildings in various Dutch cities to condemn Israel’s war in Gaza, ANP news agency reported.
Earlier on Monday, a Dutch protest group said it had occupied university buildings in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Groningen and Eindhoven.
In a post on social media site X, Amsterdam police said the university had filed a police report against the protesters for acts of vandalism.
Police made sure no one entered the university buildings and asked protesters to leave the premises voluntarily.
A spokesperson for the University of Amsterdam confirmed the occupation and said it had advised people not affiliated with the protest to leave the building.
The Eindhoven University of Technology confirmed that there were “dozens of students peacefully protesting outside next to ten to 15 tents.”
Students in the Netherlands have been protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza since last Monday and Dutch riot police had previously clashed with protesters at the University of Amsterdam.
Students in the US and Europe have also been holding mostly peaceful demonstrations calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire and for schools to cut financial ties with companies they say are profiting from the oppression of Palestinians.
Ukraine’s first lady and foreign minister visit Russia-friendly Serbia
- Although Serbia has condemned the Russian aggression on Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow
BELGRADE, Serbia: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made a surprise visit to Russia-friendly Serbia on Monday, together with Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, in a sign of warming relations between the two states.
On his first visit to Serbia since the start of the Russian aggression on Ukraine in 2022, Kuleba met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and new Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, whose government includes several pro-Russian ministers, including two who have been under US sanctions.
A statement issued by the prime minister’s office after the talks said that “Serbia is committed to respecting international law and the territorial integrity of every member state of the United Nations, including Ukraine.”
Although Serbia has condemned the Russian aggression on Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow and has instead maintained warm and friendly relations with its traditional Slavic ally.
Serbia has proclaimed neutrality regarding the war in Ukraine, and its authorities repeat that Serbia does not supply weapons to any parties. However, there are reports that Serbia has delivered weapons to Ukraine through intermediary countries. The visit by Kuleba and Zelenska, who toured the Serbian capital with Serbian first lady Tamara Vucic on Sunday, was met with criticism in Moscow. Comments by readers in the Russian state-run media such as “shameful” were published by RIA Novosti.
In what appears to be damage control, soon after his talks with Kuleba on Monday, Vucevic was to meet the Russian ambassador to Belgrade and the two were to tour a big storage facility for Russian gas that is being imported to Serbia.
Pro-Russian President Vucic has informally met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy three times on the sidelines of international conferences. Serbia has supplied Ukraine with humanitarian and financial aid.
Vucic has for years claimed to follow a “neutral” policy, balancing ties among Moscow, Beijing, Brussels and Washington. Although he has repeatedly said that Serbia is firm on its proclaimed goal of seeking European Union membership, under his authoritarian rule the Balkan country appears to be shifting closer to Russia and especially China.
During a high-stakes visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Belgrade last week, China and Serbia signed an agreement to build “ironclad” relations and a “shared joint future.”
