Moscow and Kyiv face off over downed POW plane amid suspicion and allegations

Ukraine is working to organise a visit by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said on Thursday, in remarks related to Reuters by her aide.

— Reuters

A senior Russian lawmaker said Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before a Russian military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war entered an area where it was shot down on Wednesday.

Ukraine denied the assertion by Andrei Kartopolov, a former general with close ties to Russia's defence ministry, and called for an international investigation.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia's Belgorod region, killing all 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to be swapped for Russian POWs. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that assertion, but challenged details of Moscow's account.

"The Ukrainian side was officially warned, and 15 minutes before the plane entered the zone they were given complete information, which they received and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed receipt of," Kartapolov told lawmakers, according to the ruling United Russia party.

"We all know very well what happened next," added Kartapolov, who heads Russia's parliamentary defence committee.

His assertion contradicted statements by Ukrainian military intelligence that Russia had not informed it about the flight arrangements.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov, in comments to Reuters, reiterated on Thursday that - contrary to practice before previous PoW swaps - Kyiv had received no requests from Russia to refrain from attacks in the airspace where the plane was downed.

— Reuters

Recent heating breakdowns in 16 locations across Russia amid sub-freezing temperatures show that the country has routinely prioritized military spending over re-investment in general public infrastructure, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said Thursday.

Heating breakdowns have become commonplace in Russia this winter, particularly as regional governments have been asked to "take on the burden of operating with less federal revenue and ... to fund local volunteer forces which has likely stretched their budgets and necessitated some cuts to maintenance spending," the U.K. said on X, formally known as Twitter.

The mobilization of thousands of men to fight in Russia's armed forces has also likely led to a workforce shortage across all industries, including heating engineers and plumbers, the ministry noted in an intelligence update.

Noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had asked the Minister of Emergency Situations Aleksandr Kurenkov to ensure the supply of heating and electricity to residents, the ministry said "appearing to tackle this issue is likely a key concern for Putin" ahead of presidential elections in March.

— Holly Ellyatt

A young Russian woman was jailed for 27 years on Thursday for delivering a bomb that exploded in the hands of a pro-war military blogger last year and killed him on the spot.

Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a St Petersburg court of charges, including terrorism, in connection with the death of blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.

Tatarsky was killed by a bomb concealed inside a statuette in his likeness that Trepova had presented to him as a gift during a talk he was giving in a St Petersburg cafe.

Trepova said she had been set up, and had thought the statuette contained a listening device, not a bomb.

She told the trial she was acting under orders from a man in Ukraine whom she knew as "Gestalt" (German for "Shape"), who had been sending her money and instructions for several months before the cafe bombing.

Russia accused Ukraine immediately after the attack of organising the murder of Tatarsky. He was one of a group of prominent bloggers who have built up large online audiences as cheerleaders for Russia's war in Ukraine, while sometimes criticising its tactics.

Senior Ukrainian officials have neither claimed responsibility nor denied involvement in Tatarsky's death, with presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak describing it as "internal terrorism".

Trepova said she had gone along with Gestalt's instructions because she assumed the purpose of eavesdropping on Tatarsky was to find out more of what he knew about the war, which she opposed.

"I feel great pain and shame that my gullibility and my naivety led to such catastrophic consequences. I didn't want to hurt anyone," she told the court earlier this week. "I feel especial pain and shame that a terrorist act was carried out by my own hands."

The defence said Trepova too was a victim because, sitting only several metres from Tatarsky, she could herself have been killed or wounded.

The prosecution argued that she had known about the bomb and "acted deliberately with the aim of destabilising the Russian Federation and discrediting the special military operation" — the official name for Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

After the bomb went off, Trepova said she had panicked. Knowing that she risked arrest, she ignored an instruction from "Gestalt" to head to the airport and catch a flight.

Instead she called her husband, who asked a friend of his called Dmitry Kasintsev to let her stay at his apartment that night. She was arrested there the following day. Kasintsev was sentenced on Thursday to one year and nine months for helping her to hide, despite testimony from Trepova that she had never met him before and he had nothing to do with the bomb.

— Reuters

Fragments of what appears to be an anti-aircraft guided missile were found at the crash site of the downed Russian military transport plane, Russian new agency TASS reported Thursday.

"Elements of [what is] presumably anti-aircraft guided missile that hit the Il-76 were found at the crash site in the Belgorod region," TASS said, adding that the news agency had been informed of the development by the emergency services.

Military investigators and forensic scientists are searching for metal structures, TASS reported. Earlier, the planes black boxes were found. It's hoped that the flight data recorders will shed light on what happened to the Il-76 plane that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians on board.

Russia claimed Ukraine shot the plane down with several missiles. Ukraine has not admitted nor denied responsibility for the attack, calling for an international investigation into the incident.

CNBC was unable to confirm the information in the TASS report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin was convicted by a Moscow court on Thursday of inciting extremism and jailed for four years.

Girkin has accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of notpursuing the Ukraine war effectively enough.

His case has been closely watched as an indication of how far the Kremlin will tolerate aggressive criticism of its war effort in Ukraine, something it calls a "special military operation".

— Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to the region of Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea sandwiched between two NATO countries, should not be interpreted as a "message" to NATO, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"This is absolutely not a message to the NATO countries," Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked what "message" is conveyed by Putin's upcoming visit to the Kaliningrad, a region bordered by EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

"The main thing is not sending messages, but what he [Putin] has been doing for many years — working on the development of our countries and our regions, developing the economy, projects for the socio-economic development of individual regions," Peskov said, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian prisoners exchanges will continue, a senior Russian official said Thursday, despite Wednesday's plane crash that saw 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed, alongside nine Russians, prompting further tension and hostility between Moscow and Kyiv.

"We cannot abandon our guys," Tass reported the head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov as saying. He asked whether prisoner exchanges would continue following the incident.

"Therefore, we will talk even with the devil, work even with the unclean, but we need to get our guys out. We have no other choice, we will talk," he said.

Prisoner exchanges are a thorny subject between Russia and Ukraine, although both sides have a vested interest in carrying out sporadic swaps of prisoners of war. Many prisoners remain in custody months after their initial capture.

— Holly Ellyatt

Both black boxes have been retrieved from the Russian Ilyushin-76 military transport aircraft that was shot down Wednesday, a Russian state-run news agency said Thursday.

The two black boxes, which record flight data, were found at the crash site in the Belgorod region. The technical condition is good, a representative of the emergency services told RIA Novosti.

"Both black boxes have been discovered — a flight parameters recording device and a voice recorder," the agency was told.

The unnamed source said that the flight recorders were located at the rear of the aircraft. "The discovered black boxes have been handed over to investigators," the source said, RIA Novosti reported.

CNBC was unable to verify the information in the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

The Kremlin said it would agree to an international investigation into Wednesday's plane crash in the Belgorod region that killed 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war — if Ukraine admitted to committing a crime in shooting the plane down.

Moscow alleges that Ukraine shot down the Russian military transport plane, an Ilyushin-76, using Western missiles. It said the plane was on its way to a prisoner exchange, which Kyiv confirmed. Six crew members and three Russian military escorts were also killed in the crash.

Ukraine has not admitted responsibility for the crash, in which all on board died, and called for an international investigation into the incident, accusing Russia of "playing" with the lives of POWs.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov responded to Zelenskyy's comments Thursday, saying "if he means an international investigation into the criminal actions of the Kiev regime, it is definitely needed," news agency Interfax reported.

When asked why the plane was shot down and whether it was a deliberate act, the Kremlin spokesperson said, "You should have the phone number of President Zelenskyy's administration. Call and ask this question."

"The exchange of prisoners is a process that takes place in complete silence. The fact that the Ukrainians killed their POWs, their citizens, who should have been at home literally in a day, - this, of course, is a completely monstrous act. It's beyond comprehension. How this will affect the prospects for continuing this practice [of future POW exchanges], no one can tell you," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said the Russian military was investigating the crash, saying it was "still unclear what happened; investigators began studying the remains of the plane only yesterday."

— Holly Ellyatt

The head of Ukraine's air force slammed what he described as Russian "propaganda" over the shooting down of a Russian plane transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war on Wednesday, saying Moscow was trying to discredit Ukraine.

Mykolaiv Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine's air force, commented on Telegram that the plane crash had spurred Moscow into launching what he characterized as "frantic Russian propaganda ... directing a fake flow of information to an external audience" that he said was aimed at "trying to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the world community."

"The goal is obvious — they want to reduce international support for our state. It doesn't work! Ukraine has the right to protect and destroy the means of an aggressor's air attack," he said in comments translated by NBC News.

Russia blamed Ukraine for what it called the "barbaric" shooting down of the Russian military transport plane over the border Belgorod region, killing all 65 Ukrainian POWs on board and nine Russians. Moscow said the plane was on its way to a prisoner swap.

Ukraine has not accepted responsibility for the plane crash, suggesting Russia deliberately withheld information about the POW flight and its passengers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would investigate the crash and establish the "facts" around the incident.

Oleshchuk commented in his post that Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and other front-line regions were "under fire from enemy missiles, bombs and drones every day and every night." He said the air force was "doing everything to get the enemy both in the sky and on the ground." More drone attacks had been repelled overnight, he said.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the claims made by Oleshchuk and has contacted the Kremlin for comment.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will fully investigate the circumstances around the shooting down of a Russian military transport plane allegedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on Wednesday.

"It is necessary to establish all clear facts. As much as possible, given that the plane crash happened on Russian territory - beyond our control," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address yesterday.

"It is obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society," he said.

"'Facts' is the key word now," he added, saying he had summoned top Ukrainian military and intelligence officials to report on the plane crash. He said he then tasked them with "finding out the fate of all prisoners" and "investigating all the circumstances."

Zelenskyy said he'd instructed the foreign ministry to inform Ukraine's allies of the matter. "Our state will insist on an international investigation," he said.

Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down the plane with Western-provided missiles on Wednesday, saying the plane had been on its way to a prisoner exchange. Ukraine's intelligence agency confirmed a prisoner exchange had been scheduled but did not take place.

While not admitting responsibility for shooting down the plane, the agency said the "Ukrainian side was not informed about the need to ensure the safety of the airspace in the area of the city of Belgorod in a certain period of time, as was repeatedly done in the past."

It said that it did not have "reliable and comprehensive information about who exactly was on board the plane and how many of them."

Separately, Ukraine's armed forces said in a statement that they would continue to "control the airspace to destroy the terrorist threat" of strikes crossing the border from Belgorod into Ukraine's Kherson region.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine's army said Wednesday that it would continue to "control the airspace" to reduce the threat of missiles, "including in the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction," after a Russian military transport plane crashed in the Russian border region of Belgorod.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine take all measures to protect Ukraine and Ukrainians," the general staff said in a statement posted to Facebook, according to an NBC translation.

It said 16 people had been killed in 19 Russian rocket attacks on the Kharkiv region, which borders Belgorod, in the last week.

It also said that it monitored the launch points of missiles and their delivery logistics, especially through military aircraft, to reduce to threat of attack.

"The recorded intensity of shelling is directly related to the increase in the number of military transport planes that have recently been heading to the Belgorod airfield. Taking this into account, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy means of delivery, control the airspace to destroy the terrorist threat, including in the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction," the statement continued.

It did not specifically reference the aircraft which crashed earlier Wednesday, which Russia said was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians. All passengers died, Belgorod's governor said.

— Jenni Reid

Ukraine on Wednesday suggested Russia failed to inform it of the need to create a safe airspace after a military aircraft was downed, reportedly while carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war ahead of an exchange.

Ukraine's intelligence agency said it still did not have reliable and comprehensive information about who was on board and the number of passengers.

Earlier in the day, Russia accused Ukraine of downing the aircraft, and said 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine Russians were killed.

Ukraine confirmed an exchange of prisoners was scheduled for Wednesday but one did not take place.

"For its part, Ukraine has fulfilled all agreements for the preparation of the exchange. The Russian captured servicemen were delivered in time to the designated exchange point, where they were kept safe," the Ukrainian intelligence department said in a statement.

"According to the agreements, the Russian side had to ensure the safety of our defenders. At the same time, the Ukrainian side was not informed about the need to ensure the safety of the airspace in the area of the city of Belgorod in a certain period of time, as was repeatedly done in the past."

It also said it was not told about the number of vehicles, routes and forms of delivery of the prisoners.

"This may indicate deliberate actions by Russia aimed at creating a threat to the life and safety of prisoners," it alleged.

Ukraine's army separately said it had been targeting and would continue to target military aircraft crossing the border from Russia's Belgorod into Ukrainian Kharkiv following a slew of strikes on the region.

— Jenni Reid

Russia's Ministry of Defense released a statement on Telegram Wednesday, giving more details on the military plane crash in Belgorod in which it said 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war died, as well as nine other Russians. Ukraine has not yet publicly commented on the crash.

Here is the ministry's statement in full:

Russia routinely and baselessly describes the government in Kyiv as a "Nazi regime" in order to demonize its leadership and justify its invasion of Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

A Russian lawmaker suggested that a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war that was shot down over the Belgorod region Wednesday was part of a two-plane convoy en route to a prisoner swap with Ukraine.

The Head of the Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov told the RBC news agency that the Ilyushin-76 military transport plane was "shot down by three Patriot or IRIS-T missiles," that had been given to Ukraine's armed forces by its Western allies.

That plane, he said, was followed by another Il-76 with more prisoners on board, Kartapolov said. The second plane was reportedly diverted.

"The second Il-76 plane was flying next, which was carrying about 80 more prisoners of war; they managed to turn it around," Kartapolov said.

"The Ukrainian leadership was well aware of the impending exchange and was informed of how the prisoners would be delivered," he said during a speech in the State Duma, according to a NBC News translation of his comments.

CNBC was unable to verify the claims.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian military plane crashes in border region, Moscow says 65 Ukrainian POWs were on board