Ukraine-Russia war – live: Drone attack on Putin’s hometown as EU battles to end Hungary’s block on Kyiv aid

President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Ukraine used a US-supplied Patriot air defence system to shoot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane last week in the Belgorod region that Moscow says killed all 74 people on board.

Putin also said that Russia, like Ukraine, wanted an international investigation into the incident.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane and of killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers it said were en route to be swapped for Russian prisoners of war.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it downed the plane, and has demanded proof of who was on board.

“The plane was downed, and it’s been definitively established by an American Patriot system – the expert analysis has already established that,” said Putin.

“We insist that an international investigation be carried out. No international organisations are willing to do this,” he added, saying Russia was officially asking for such an investigation.

He said that Ukraine had fired two missiles at the plane.

Russia and Ukraine have said they had completed a prisoner exchange, the first since the crash last week of a Russian military transport plane that Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a similar swap.

The Russian Defence Ministry said each side had got 195 soldiers back and that its own soldiers would be flown to Moscow to receive medical and psychological treatment.

It was cited by the RIA state news agency as saying that the United Arab Emirates had played a role in brokering the deal.

“On January 31, as a result of the negotiation process, 195 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, exactly 195 prisoners from the armed forces of Ukraine were handed over,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his official account on X that it was one of the biggest swaps so far. He gave a slightly higher number for the number of Ukrainians returned.

The United Nations’ top court is ruling Wednesday in a case in which Ukraine accuses Russia of bankrolling rebels in 2014 and discriminating against Crimea’s multiethnic community since its annexation of the region.

It is the first of two decisions by the International Court of Justice linked to the decadelong conflict between Russia and Ukraine that exploded into a full-blown war nearly two years ago.

The doors close Wednesday on nominations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, with peace activists connected to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine among the known entries.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps the nominations secret, but those with nomination rights sometimes make their picks public.

Attempts to find an end the war in Gaza have been a theme for some of the announced nominations.

Ukraine is facing a crucial year as it battles Russia’s invasion and if the US fails to pass fresh aid for Kyiv at this critical moment it will be an “own goal of historic proportions”, the CIA director has warned.

“This year is likely to be a tough one on the battlefield in Ukraine,” William Burns said, adding that Kyiv faces a difficult test of its ability to safeguard its sovereignty.

“For the United States to walk away from the conflict at this crucial moment and cut off support to Ukraine would be an own goal of historic proportions,” he wrote in an article for the Foreign Affairs.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said it is important to get broader support within Europe for Ukraine in its war with Russia and that a special leaders’ meeting this week would send a signal of support, even if it did not end the debate.

“It is necessary that we do not ease up on our support for Ukraine,” Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament, adding he wanted more countries to actively help.

US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has arrived in Ukraine for talks amid growing uncertainty over US economic and military assistance to Kyiv as the war with Russia approaches its third year.

“Today we will meet government leaders, veterans and civil society to underscore our shared commitment to defeating Russian aggression in Ukraine,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on social media platform X.

She published a picture of Nuland at Kyiv’s central railway station.

Ukraine is heavily reliant on support from its Western allies to hold its own against Russia’s full-scale invasion launched on 24 February, 2022.

So far this year, Kyiv has received no military or financial aid from its two main backers, the United States and European Union.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff has said that the postponement of U.S. assistance for Kyiv being debated in the Congress would create a “big risk” of Ukraine losing the war with Russia.

President Joe Biden’s administration asked Congress in October 2023 for nearly $106 billion to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. border security, but Republicans who control the House with a slim majority have opposed the package.

European Union leaders will propose on Thursday holding an annual debate on a planned 50 billion euro (£43 billion) aid package for Ukraine in an effort to overcome opposition from Hungary, according to draft summit conclusions.

The EU aid is to help cover Ukraine‘s needs for 2024-2027, with 33 billion euros in cheap loans and 17 billion in grants from the EU budget to give Kyiv stable financing as it fights off Russia’s invasion.

Hungary, which cultivates close ties with Moscow, has been pushing for an annual review that would give it a right to veto the disbursements every year. This goes against the idea of predictable funding and other EU countries reject it, but if the money is to come from the EU budget, it requires unanimity among the 27 EU countries, so Hungarian consent is necessary.

In the latest version of the draft summit conclusions, seen by Reuters, EU leaders say they could hold yearly debates on how the EU money is being spent by Ukraine, based on reports by the European Commission.

This would not give Hungary a right to veto the money, but it could air concerns.

“The European Council will hold a debate each year on the implementation of the facility with a view to providing guidance on the EU approach towards the situation stemming from Russias war of aggression against Ukraine,” the draft read.

It was not clear if Hungary will agree.

Diplomats have said Budapest wants not only an annual veto right, but also does not wish to contribute to higher servicing costs of joint EU borrowing for the recovery fund, arguing it had not received its money because of rule of law concerns.

Because the recovery funds for Hungary are still frozen and the scheme runs out in 2026, Budapest also wants the EU to extend the life of the programme by two years to 2028.

EU diplomats and officials argue neither an exemption from contributing to higher interest costs nor an extension of the recovery fund programme are legally possible.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was monitoring the situation around Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine‘s top military commander, after Western and Ukrainian media outlets said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was trying to oust Zaluzhny.

The media reports, attributed to unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, said that Zelenskiy in a meeting on Monday had offered Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, a new role but that the general had refused.

Commenting on the situation around Zaluzhny, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:

“Of course we are following this. There are still a lot of questions. (But) one thing remains obvious – the Kyiv regime has a lot of problems, things are not going well there,” said Peskov.

“It is obvious that the failed (summer) counter-offensive and the problems on the front are leading to growing contradictions among the representatives of this Kyiv regime. These contradictions will grow as the special military operation (by Russia) continues to be successful.”