Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin apologises over Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had responded to a new package of European Union sanctions by significantly expanding a list of EU and EU member state officials banned from entering Russia.

The European Union on Monday imposed a 15th package of sanctions against Russia, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it had responded by adding more unnamed “representatives of security agencies, state and commercial organisations of EU countries, and citizens of EU member states responsible for providing military aid to Kyiv” to its stop list.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible. 

Putin‘s apology came as allegations mounted that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya. 

An official Kremlin statement issued Saturday said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the airliner “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It did not explicitly say one of these hit the plane. 

The statement said Putin apologised to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expressed condolences to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev about the Azeri plane that crashed in Kazakhstan and which Azeri sources have told Reuters is believed to have been shot down by Russian air defences.

“The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened. Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation,” Mr Zelensky said in a statement on X after the call.

Ukraine’s deliveries of drones to its military units increased 19-fold in 2024 following the creation of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Kyiv’s military chief has announced.

Speaking after an end of year meeting, General Oleksandr Syrskyi described the increase use of drones as an “extremely important component, necessary in the conditions of modern technological warfare”.

“Compared to last year, the volume of deliveries of unmanned systems to our units increased 19 times,” he said. “The number of enemy targets hit and destroyed increased 3.7 times.”

You can read his full statement below.

Satellite imagery has shown the construction of a Russian drone base that Ukraine says it significantly damaged.

Earlier, we reported that Ukraine’s General Staff said they had hit this Russian drone base in the Oryol region to the north of Kursk, during a Boxing Day operation.

Images showing the aftermath of the attack are yet to be published.

The British Ministry of Defence suggests that Russia appears to be stockpiling missiles to launch “larger, less frequent strike wave” against Ukraine.

You can read their latest update below.

Ukrainian president Voldoymyr Zelensky has accused Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico of “opening up a second energy front” against Ukraine on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

“It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” he wrote.

“Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be explained by this.”

Mr Zelensky’s comments follow a threat from Mr Fico to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine if the Ukrainian president went through with a plan to end the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine by 1 January next year, despite this date being the end of the current contract.

Mr Zelensky says Russia is using the profits of this gas sale to continue its invasion of Ukraine. Mr Fico says the end of the Russian gas transit will drive up costs for the European Union and hit the bloc’s competitiveness.

Earlier this month, Mr Fico visited Mr Putin in Moscow, becoming one of only a handful of European leader to do so since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The visit prompted widespread criticism among other European states, who have largely cut all ties with Russia.

The Ukrainian area of Pokrovsk has been cut off from power after repeated Russian attacks, the local administration has reported.

The city of Pokrovsk is a linchpin of the defence of the wider Donetsk region and its capture has been a primary objective of the advancing Russian forces for months.

Recently, Vladimir Putin’s troops have advanced within a few miles of the city’s outskirts.

The local administration said they do not know when the power supply will be restored. Over the past three days, the city has been repeatedly hit by Russian drones and shells.