Ukraine updates: Kyiv calls for probe into plane crash

Turkey's government took the final step in ratifying Sweden's bid to join NATO late on Thursday, publishing the bill that approves its accession to the military alliance in its official gazette. 

Sweden, like Finland, applied to join NATO in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, having remained neutral throughout the Cold War. 

Turkey had held up the Swedish bid for months, claiming that the country harbors individuals — very often Kurds — who it considers terrorists.

All NATO members must approve any prospective member joining the alliance. 

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed the news online, saying: "With this, a key milestone has been reached in Sweden's path towards NATO membership." 

Hungary has also held out on approving Sweden's NATO entry, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban said soon after Turkey's parliament ratified the move on Tuesday that a vote would soon follow in Budapest, too. 

A court in St. Petersburg on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for her supposed role in the death of a prominent Russian military blogger in April 2023 in a cafe in the city. 

The military blogger who went by the alias Vladen Tatarsky died when he was handed a figurine of himself which subsequently exploded. He was giving a talk in the cafe and meeting members of the public at the time. 

He was a strident supporter of the war in Ukraine but also sometimes criticized what he perceived as the Kremlin's failures in the conflict. 

Russian authorities ultimately blame Ukraine's secret services for the killing. The defendant claimed she did not know the figurine was explosive, saying she thought it contained a listening device not a bomb.

You can read the full story here. 

Moscow City Court on Thursday sentenced Russian nationalist Igor Girkin to four years in prison on charges of inciting extremisim over his criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine.

The case is unusual in that Girkin is a prominent nationalist who was in favor of the invasion of Ukraine. 

However, he had often accused Russian President Putin and top army officials offailing to purse the Ukraine war effectively enough, calling Putin an "old idiot" in a post in July.

You can read the full story here. 

Ukraine's SBU security service orchestrated an overnight drone attack on an oil refinery  in the southern Russian town of Tuapse, unnamed Ukrainian officials have told news agencies.

"An oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, has become another target of the SBU security services. The primary oil processing unit, namely the vacuum and atmospheric columns, was damaged," a source told the AFP news agency.

A source told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv would continue attacking facilities providing fuel for the Russian military.

"The SBU strikes deep into the Russian Federation and continues attacks on facilities which are not only important for the Russian economy, but also provide fuel for the enemy troops," the source said.

Both black boxes of a Russian military transport plane that crashed in the Belgorod border region with Ukraine have been located and secured, Russia's state-run RIA news agency reported Thursday, citing rescue services.

Russia has accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane, which Moscow says was carrying prisoners for a swap. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied Russia's claims.

Ukraine's Air Force on Thursday said its air defense system shot down 11 of 14 drones that were launched in an attack by Russia overnight over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in southern Ukraine. 

Two people were wounded during the attack on the Black Sea port city, according to Odesa regional Governor Oleh Kiper.

"Despite the effective and fruitful work of air defense to repel enemy attacks, unfortunately, an industrial facility was hit in Odesa, and residential buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged," Kiper said.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, and the reports could not be immediately verified. 

The United Nations Security Council will discuss the incident involving a Russian military transport plane that crashed in Russia's Belgorod region near Ukraine.

"The meeting requested by Russia" will take place on Thursday at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT), said France, the current holder of the rotating presidency of the Security Council. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had asked for an immediate emergency session of the council to discuss Wednesday's crash, which he called a "terrorist attack."

Kyiv has so far maintained that it does not have all the information about the plane crash.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday reiterated Russia's claims that Ukraine had shot down the plane. "No one can say what impact this will have" on extending a prisoner exchange program, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for an international inquiry into the crash of a Russian military aircraft in the Belgorod border region.

According to Russia, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board when the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashed.

 Ukraine's military intelligence service HUR is trying to find out about the prisoners of war, Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

"Our state will insist on international reconnaissance," he said. "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."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has been instructed to provide allies with all the information that is available to Ukraine.

While Zelenskyy wants a probe, Russia has accused Ukraine of downing the plane as it flew over Belgorod. 

On Wednesday, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said there had been no survivors. "All occupants on board have died," he said, confirmed by Russian media reports

According to reports, the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped. Six crew members and three Russian soldiers were also on board.