KYIV: Officials in Ukraine said Russia has provided no credible evidence to back its claims that their own forces shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped for Russian POWs.
The Ukrainian agency that deals with prisoner exchanges said late Friday that Russian officials had “with great delay” provided it with a list of the 65 Ukrainians who Moscow said had died in the Wednesday plane crash in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Ukraine’s Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said relatives of the named POWs were unable to identify their loved ones in crash site photos provided by Russian authorities. The agency’s update cited Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Lt. Col. Kyrylo Budanov, as saying that Kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that missiles fired from across the border brought down the transport plane that it said was taking the POWs back to Ukraine. Local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen.
“We currently don’t have evidence that there could have been that many people onboard the aircraft. Russian propaganda’s claim that the IL-76 aircraft was transporting 65 Ukrainian POWs (heading) for a prisoner swap continues to raise a lot of questions,” Budanov said.
Social media users in the Belgorod region posted a video Wednesday that showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a huge ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.
Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed a Russian military transport plane that day, and Russia’s claim that the crash killed Ukrainian POWs could not be independently verified. Earlier Friday, Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine’s air force commander, described Moscow’s assertion as “rampant Russian propaganda.”
Ukrainian officials earlier this week confirmed that a prisoner swap was due to happen Wednesday but said it was called off. They said Moscow did not ask for any specific stretch of airspace to be kept safe for a certain length of time, as it has for past prisoner exchanges.
An International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson in Ukraine urged Russia on Friday night to return the bodies of any POWs who might have died in the plane crash.
In a live interview with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Red Cross Media Relations Officer Oleksandr Vlasenko also remarked that “very little time” had passed between the initial reports of the incident and Moscow declaring it was ready to return the bodies of the Ukrainian POWs.
While Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange the bodies of dead soldiers, each trade has required considerable preparation, Vlasenko said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international investigation into the crash. Russia has sole access to the crash site.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Friday to make the findings of Moscow’s crash investigation public. In his first public remarks on the incident, Putin repeated previous comments by Russian officials that “everything was planned” for a prisoner exchange that day when the aircraft went down.
“Knowing (the POWs were aboard), they attacked this plane. I don’t know whether they did it on purpose or by mistake, through thoughtlessness,” Putin said of Ukraine at a meeting with students in St. Petersburg.
He offered no details to support the allegation that Kyiv was to blame, but said the plane’s flight recorders had been found.
“There are black boxes, everything will now be collected and shown,” Putin said.
As the war nears its two-year mark, Ukraine is eager to demonstrate momentum to the United States and other Western allies supplying the country with weapons and other aid. A counter-offensive last year to seize Russian-occupied areas did not produce major gains.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with his Lithuanian counterpart in Kyiv on Saturday, During a joint news conference, the two cited progress on joint drone production and reviving a European Union fund to pay for military aid after the bloc’s leaders in December postponed an agreement to top it up.
Kuleba said there was “clear understanding” between him and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on how to provide more drones for the Ukrainian army.
“Lithuania has the technology; we have the ability to scale production. That was the key topic,” he said.
Kuleba and Landsbergis also said that Kyiv and its EU partners were inching closer to making more funds from the European Peace Facility available for long-term weapons, ammunition and other military aid deliveries for Ukraine. The EU set up the fund in 2021 to finance conflict resolution and security initiatives
Some EU members, including Germany and France, have said the 27-nation bloc needs to rethink how it sources the weapons it transfers to Ukraine. They have mentioned switching away from supplying arms from the national stocks of individual countries and toward a direct procurement process.
Lithuania, an eastern European nation that spent decades under Russian and Soviet domination, has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Moscow launched its full-scale war in February 2022. Landsbergis pledged that support from the government in Vilnius would continue.
“We’ll never pay the price that you’re paying for security,” he said, addressing Kuleba and Ukrainian society. “And so ... I can only apologize that we only can do so much, but we will still be doing what we can.”
Ukraine says it has no evidence for Russia’s claim that dozens of POWs died in a shot down plane
https://arab.news/bqph3
Ukraine says it has no evidence for Russia’s claim that dozens of POWs died in a shot down plane
- Ukraine’s Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said relatives of the named POWs were unable to identify their loved ones
- The agency’s update cited Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Lt. Col. Kyrylo Budanov, as saying that Kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane
Powerful earthquake of 6.2 magnitude shakes in Istanbul
- There were no immediate reports of damage, but people evacuated buildings as the quake hit and shook the city
There were no immediate reports of damage, but people evacuated buildings as the quake hit and shook the city, located on the European and Asian shores of the Bosphorus strait.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 12:49 (0949 GMT) was in the area of Silivri, some 80km to the west of Istanbul. It was at a depth of 6.92km, AFAD said.
Broadcaster TGRT reported that one person had been injured as a result of jumping off a balcony during the quake, which occurred during a public holiday in Turkiye.
AFAD warned people in the region against entering damaged buildings.
The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said the earthquake had a magnitude 6.02. It was at a depth of 10 km, GFZ said.
EU slaps fines on Apple and Meta, risking Trump fury
- The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act, which came into effect last year
- Law forces the world’s biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU
BRUSSELS: The EU on Wednesday slapped Apple and Meta with €700 million in fines for breaking digital competition rules, risking the wrath of US President Donald Trump.
The penalties threaten to cause more tension in the already fraught relationship between the bloc and Trump, as the two sides discuss a deal to avoid his sweeping tariffs on the EU.
The European Commission fined Apple €500 million ($570 million) after concluding the company prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store to access cheaper deals.
The EU also fined Meta €200 million over its “pay or consent” system after it violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram.
The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect last year, forcing the world’s biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU.
They could rise further if Meta and Apple fail to comply within 60 days, the commission said, threatening the US giants with “periodic penalty payments.”
The EU bolstered its legal arsenal over the past two years with major twin laws, the Digital Services Act and the DMA.
But since Trump’s return to the White House, there have been concerns that the EU would shy away from enforcing them.
Trump frequently lashes out at the EU over its digital laws and taxes – claiming they are “non-tariff barriers” to trade – and many tech CEOs have aligned with his administration.
He has imposed 25-percent tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto imports from the EU, which Brussels hopes he will lift after an agreement.
Antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement the fines “send a strong and clear message,” insisting the bloc had taken “firm but balanced enforcement action.”
The fines – which come after the investigations began in March 2024 – also appear to be more modest than past penalties against US Big Tech.
When Apple committed similar offenses on its App Store, the commission slapped a 1.8-billion-euro fine in March 2024 under different EU rules.
Apple faces a litany of accusations. The EU also told Apple in preliminary findings it was in breach of the DMA – and therefore at risk of another hefty fine – for not making it easy for rivals to provide alternatives to its App Store.
Apple, however, slammed the decisions and said in a statement it would appeal the fine.
“Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free,” the company said.
Meta accused the EU of “attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service,” said Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and Trump ally.
In a rare bit of good news for Apple, the EU closed its investigation over its user choice obligations after Apple complied with the DMA, and made it easy to select a default browser and for users to remove pre-installed apps such as Safari.
The fine against Meta concerned its “pay for privacy” system, which has faced fierce criticism by rights defenders in Europe after its introduction in November 2023.
It means users have to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.
But the commission concluded Meta did not provide Facebook and Instagram users a less personalized but equivalent version of the platforms, and “did not allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.”
Meta in November last year proposed a new version, which the EU is currently assessing.
WEF confirms investigation into claims against founder Schwab
- Schwab had already stepped down as executive chairman last year
GENEVA: The World Economic Forum confirmed Wednesday that it has launched an investigation into allegations made against its founder Klaus Schwab that reportedly prompting his resignation this week.
In a statement confirming a report by the Wall Street Journal, the WEF said its board of trustees "unanimously supported the Audit and Risk Committee's decision to initiate an independent investigation following a whistleblower letter containing allegations against former Chairman Klaus Schwab".
The WEF, which hosts the annual meeting of wealthy, famous and influential global elites at the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos, initially provided no explanation when it announced Monday that its longtime chairman had stepped down from the board with immediate effect.
In the first statement, the WEF's board hailed Schwab's "outstanding achievements" in his 55 years in charge.
But the WSJ reported that the decision had been prompted by a board decision to investigate allegations of financial and ethical misconduct by the longtime leader and his wife Hilde.
Schwab denies the claims, the paper added.
The letter, said to have been sent by anonymous current and former WEF staff, "included allegations that Klaus Schwab asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels," wrote the WSJ, which said it had seen the letter and spoken with people familiar with the case.
"It also alleged that his wife Hilde, a former Forum employee, scheduled 'token' Forum-funded meetings in order to justify luxury holiday travel at the organisation's expense," the paper said.
The letter also reportedly raised concerns about how Schwab treated female employees, and how his decades-long leadership allegedly allowed instances of sexual harassment and discriminatory behaviour to go unchecked.
Schwab could not immediately be reached for comment but according to the paper, he had vehemently denied all the allegations and warned board members he would sue if they pursued an investigation.
Despite this, the board of trustees decided at an emergency meeting on Sunday to open a probe, and Schwab opted to resign immediately.
In its statement Wednesday, WEF stressed that its decision "was made after consultation with external legal counsel and in line with the Forum's fiduciary responsibilities".
"While the Forum takes these allegations seriously, it emphasises that they remain unproven, and will await the outcome of the investigation to comment further."
Schwab had already stepped down as executive chairman last year, with Norway's former foreign minister Borge Brende taking over daily management.
A few weeks ago, the 87-year-old Schwab said he would step down as non-executive chairman but with the handover lasting until January 2027.
WEF has said that vice chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will serve as interim chairman as a search committee looks for a permanent replacement for Schwab.
List of major terror attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir over the years
- Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in Jammu and Kashmir territory
- Attack took place on Tuesday in meadow in Pahalgam area of Himalayan federal territory, dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national
NEW DELHI: Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said on Wednesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades.
The attack took place on Tuesday in a meadow in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory and the dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.
Here is a look at major attacks over the years in India’s only Muslim-majority region, where Islamist militants have fought security forces for decades.
NOVEMBER 2024
At least 11 people were injured when militants threw a grenade at security personnel in a crowded flea market in the main city of Srinagar.
OCTOBER 2024
Six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead by militants who opened fire near a tunnel construction site. The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility.
JUNE 2024
At least nine people died and 33 were injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a deep gorge after a suspected militant attack.
MAY 2024
Suspected militants opened fire on a tourist couple from the northwestern city of Jaipur, injuring them both.
FEBRUARY 2019
At least 44 security personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility.
JULY 2017
At least seven Hindu pilgrims, on their way back from the revered Amarnath shrine deep in the Himalayas, died when their bus got caught in crossfire after two militant attacks on police in the area.
SEPTEMBER 2016
At least 17 soldiers were killed as separatists armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades stormed an army base in Uri near the disputed border with Pakistan.
Beijing slams ‘groundless accusations’ after Ukraine summons Chinese envoy
CHINA: Beijing on Wednesday dismissed as “groundless” Ukraine’s allegation that Chinese fighters and companies were directly assisting Russia’s military.
“China firmly opposes groundless accusations and political manipulation,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference in response to a question about China’s ambassador being summoned by Kyiv.
