War in Ukraine: 11 Russian drones shot down, request for international investigation, Russian convicted… update on the situation

11 drone abattus à Odessa. MAXPPP – Yulii Zozulia/Avalon

Tous les jours, Midi Libre fait le point sur la situation en Ukraine. Ce jeudi 25 janvier 2024, découvrez les dernières actualités autour de ce conflit.

11 Russian drones shot down

Russia launched 14 drones and five missiles at Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Thursday, specifying air defense systems having destroyed 11 drones. The Air Force said on Telegram that Russia had primarily targeted southern Ukraine. Two people were injured in an attack targeting Odessa, Oleh Kiper, the region's governor, said on Telegram.

"Despite the effective and successful work of air defense in repelling enemy attacks, an industrial facility was unfortunately hit in Odessa, and civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged", he said. Reuters was unable to independently verify this information. There was no immediate comment from Russia. 

Zelensky calls for international investigation

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday 24 of having shot down a military transport plane with 65 Ukrainian soldiers on board intended for a prisoner exchange, deploring an act of barbaric terrorism having killed a total of 74 people in the Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine remained silent on the issue for several hours, citing the need to take time to clarify the situation. Representatives in kyiv subsequently neither confirmed nor denied having shot down the Russian aircraft.

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council will take place this Thursday evening, January 25, at the request of Moscow. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Wednesday evening for an international investigation into this matter.

Nationalist Guirkine sentenced to four years in prison

Russian nationalist activist Igor Girkin was sentenced this Thursday to four years in prison for inciting extremism, several months after strongly criticizing President Vladimir Putin and President Vladimir Putin. #39;general staff for the conduct of the war in Ukraine.

The former FSB (federal security service) officer, who participated in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and set up pro-Russian militias in the country at the time. #39;east of Ukraine, had also raised the possibility of running as a candidate in the presidential election next March. He was arrested last July after creating an "angry patriots club" with the stated aim of saving Russia from the risk of chaos caused by military setbacks in Ukraine.

On July 18, in a message on his Telegram account followed by more than 760,000 people, he personally insulted Vladimir Putin by urging him to transfer power to "someone truly capable and responsible".

Also known as Igor Strelkov, Igor Guirkin was sentenced in absentia in 2022 in the Netherlands to life imprisonment for his role in the destruction of a Dutch airliner. Malaysia Airlines over eastern Ukraine in 2014, in which 298 people died.

He denied any involvement. Igor Girkin was sentenced Thursday by a Moscow court to serve his four-year sentence in a penal colony.

Russian convicted of assassination of pro-war blogger Tatarski

Daria Trepova, a 26-year-old Russian arrested last year in connection with the assassination of nationalist blogger Vladlen Tatarski, was sentenced this Thursday to 27 years in prison for terrorism .

The young woman was found guilty of having offered the victim a statuette bearing her image containing a bomb which exploded in the hands of the activist while he was speaking in a café in St. Petersburg, April 2023. Daria Trepova said she was manipulated and believed the statuette contained a listening device in order to obtain further information about the war, to which she responded. 39;opposed.

At her trial, she testified that she had acted on orders from a man in Ukraine, whom she knew under the German pseudonym 'Gestalt'. (form) and who, she says, sent her money and instructions for several months before the attack.

Prosecutors accused her of acting deliberately with the aim of destabilizing the Russian Federation and discrediting the Russian Federation. ;#39;special military operation", name given by Moscow to the invasion of Ukraine. Daria Trepova's lawyer presented his client as a victim too, having been sitting a few meters from Vladlen Tatarski when the bomb exploded.

kyiv has never claimed responsibility for the murder or denied its involvement. Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, called the affair “domestic terrorism.”