The President's Daily Brief
December 30th, 2024: Putin Apologizes for Deadly Plane Crash & ‘Human Wave’ Attacks in Russia
Mon, 30 Dec 2024
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: A deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash prompts an apparent apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin—though he stops short of taking responsibility. Reports from Western Russia suggest North Korean troops are being deployed in human wave attacks, leading to mounting casualties on the battlefield. Escalating tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan after Pakistani airstrikes spur Taliban retaliation, resulting in casualties on both sides. And in today’s Back of the Brief: former President Jimmy Carter is dead at the age of 100. We’ll take a look back at America’s 39th Commander-in-Chief. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened in the Azerbaijan Airlines crash?
We'll start the show with the ongoing investigations into that deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash and an apparent apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which stopped just short of accepting responsibility. So one could say, not an apology.
Later in the show, the latest from the battlefields in Western Russia, where North Korean troops are reportedly being used in human wave attacks, leading to, of course, mounting casualties. Plus, the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan is escalating after Pakistani airstrikes spurred Taliban retaliation this weekend, leaving casualties on both sides.
And in today's Back of the Brief, some sad news. Former President Jimmy Carter is dead at the age of 100. We'll take a look back at the extraordinary life of America's 39th Commander-in-Chief. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
Multiple investigations into last week's deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan are still underway, but preliminary findings are now settling on Russian air defense systems as the most likely culprit. And when I say most likely, I mean, well, that was the culprit.
As we reported on the PDB, the tragedy unfolded on Wednesday morning when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed in a remote area near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Now, the passenger plane was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, that's the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia. 38 people were killed and 29 survived.
And those survivors are now beginning to give their accounts of what happened. An Azeri crew member speaking from his hospital room told ABC News he heard several thuds as the aircraft flew over Grozny, Russia. Though he wasn't authorized to share details publicly, he recounted how he noticed blood shortly after hearing loud bangs outside the plane.
The crewman said, quote, I don't know what touched me. I just looked and saw blood. Another passenger recalled hearing two explosions about 20 to 30 minutes after takeoff, adding to the growing body of evidence that surface to air missiles from Russian air defenses likely caused the crash. Azerbaijani officials are now calling on Russia to take responsibility for the crash.
Yeah, that's definitely going to happen. On Sunday, the nation's president, Ilham Aliyev, openly accused Russia of shooting down the plane. though he did stop short of claiming that it was intentional. Speaking on Azerbaijani state television, Aliyev said, "...we can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia.
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Chapter 2: What was Putin's response to the airline tragedy?
We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done." He added that the aircraft wasn't just hit by fire from the ground, but was also rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. Aliev criticized Moscow for what he described as an effort to hush up the incident for days, saying he was upset and surprised by Russian officials' explanations.
Originally, the Kremlin said the crash occurred after the Embraer 190 aircraft hit a flock of birds. Hmm. Meanwhile, Russian President Putin has issued what some might call a partial apology and others might just call a statement. On Saturday, the Kremlin acknowledged that air defense systems were firing near Grozny's airport as the airliner repeatedly tried to land there.
However, the statement stopped short of admitting that these defenses hit the plane. Putin's apology, if that's what it was, to President Aliyev was limited to expressing regret that the tragedy occurred in Russian airspace, an inconvenience for Putin, a response unlikely to satisfy Azerbaijani officials.
Aliyev has also demanded that Russia punish those responsible and provide compensation to both the Azerbaijani state and the injured passengers and crew members. Whether or not any of that happens, well, that remains to be seen. But Putin's Russia doesn't frankly have a good record of admitting guilt when it shoots down passenger planes, or really admitting guilt to anything.
Take Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, for example. Back in 2014, 298 people were killed when the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Investigators later found that it was hit by a Russian-made missile system operated by pro-Russian separatists. But despite the evidence, Moscow has repeatedly denied any responsibility, calling the investigations biased and political.
Given that history, it's hard to say if Azerbaijan will get the accountability or justice that they're demanding for last week's crash. All right, coming up next, the latest from Western Russia, where North Korean troops are reportedly deployed in human wave attacks. And the Taliban retaliates against Pakistan after a series of airstrikes just last week. I'll have those stories when we come back.
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Chapter 3: How are North Korean troops being utilized in Russia?
Chapter 4: What are the implications of Taliban retaliation against Pakistan?
Chapter 5: What was significant about former President Jimmy Carter's life?
And in today's Back of the Brief, some sad news. Former President Jimmy Carter is dead at the age of 100. We'll take a look back at the extraordinary life of America's 39th Commander-in-Chief. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
Multiple investigations into last week's deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan are still underway, but preliminary findings are now settling on Russian air defense systems as the most likely culprit. And when I say most likely, I mean, well, that was the culprit.
As we reported on the PDB, the tragedy unfolded on Wednesday morning when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed in a remote area near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Now, the passenger plane was en route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, that's the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia. 38 people were killed and 29 survived.
And those survivors are now beginning to give their accounts of what happened. An Azeri crew member speaking from his hospital room told ABC News he heard several thuds as the aircraft flew over Grozny, Russia. Though he wasn't authorized to share details publicly, he recounted how he noticed blood shortly after hearing loud bangs outside the plane.
The crewman said, quote, I don't know what touched me. I just looked and saw blood. Another passenger recalled hearing two explosions about 20 to 30 minutes after takeoff, adding to the growing body of evidence that surface to air missiles from Russian air defenses likely caused the crash. Azerbaijani officials are now calling on Russia to take responsibility for the crash.
Yeah, that's definitely going to happen. On Sunday, the nation's president, Ilham Aliyev, openly accused Russia of shooting down the plane. though he did stop short of claiming that it was intentional. Speaking on Azerbaijani state television, Aliyev said, "...we can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia.
We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done." He added that the aircraft wasn't just hit by fire from the ground, but was also rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. Aliev criticized Moscow for what he described as an effort to hush up the incident for days, saying he was upset and surprised by Russian officials' explanations.
Originally, the Kremlin said the crash occurred after the Embraer 190 aircraft hit a flock of birds. Hmm. Meanwhile, Russian President Putin has issued what some might call a partial apology and others might just call a statement. On Saturday, the Kremlin acknowledged that air defense systems were firing near Grozny's airport as the airliner repeatedly tried to land there.
However, the statement stopped short of admitting that these defenses hit the plane. Putin's apology, if that's what it was, to President Aliyev was limited to expressing regret that the tragedy occurred in Russian airspace, an inconvenience for Putin, a response unlikely to satisfy Azerbaijani officials.
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Chapter 6: What are the latest updates from the Ukraine-Russia conflict?
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More grim news coming from the front lines of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with reports that Moscow is now using North Korean troops in what are being referred to as human wave attacks, with some soldiers choosing to take their own lives to avoid capture, driven by fear of retribution under Kim Jong-un's regime.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby weighed in on Friday, describing Pyongyang's forces as, quote, highly indoctrinated and being treated as expendable. He explained that they're forced into waves of assaults against Ukrainian defenses with little concern for their survival.
Kirby confirmed reports that suicides among North Korean soldiers are, quote, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they're captured, end quote. South Korea's National Intelligence Service confirmed last week that at least one captured North Korean soldier died of self-inflicted injuries after being taken into Ukrainian custody.
Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that some captured North Korean troops could not be resuscitated, suggesting, quote, their own people are executing them in an effort to prevent their capture. According to Kirby, the North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region are being deployed into, quote, massed dismounted assaults with minimal protection.
He described their tactics as ineffective and extraordinarily costly in human terms. Zelensky echoed this assessment, accusing the Russian military and their North Korean enforcers of displaying blatant disregard for the lives of these soldiers. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, estimates from U.S.
and allied intelligence indicate that North Korea has dispatched a minimum of 11,000 troops to support Russia's war effort. Zelensky reported via Telegram Friday that over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the past week alone, while Kirby cited a lower figure of more than 1,000 deaths during the same period.
And those are numbers which were corroborated by South Korean intelligence. The desperation of Moscow's approach is evident in its staggering casualty numbers. Earlier this month, British intelligence reported that over 45,000 Russian casualties took place in November alone. That's the highest monthly toll since the war began.
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