France Releases Seized Oil Tanker Of Russia's Shadow Fleet (Photos)
🇫🇷 France has released a recently seized Russian shadow fleet oil tanker, Le Monde reports.
The outlet writes that on January 29, French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a phone call that French authorities were forced to allow the tanker Grinch to return to sea.
The oil tanker, suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, had been detained last week for legal reasons but has now been released. Macron assured Zelenskyy that France will reform its legislation to ensure it can immobilize Russian tankers in the future.
Ukrainian media report that Zelenskyy, on January 30, called on all countries with influence over tanker immobilization to take action, seizing Russian ships not temporarily, but permanently. This, he said, would make the situation much more difficult for Russia.
The Russian shadow fleet tanker Grinch was detained by the French Navy on January 22, 2026, in the western Mediterranean Sea, in an operation conducted jointly with the British Navy.
After the seizure, the tanker’s captain, an Indian citizen, was taken into custody. The tanker was brought to the French coast and run aground in the port of Marseille-Fos. Until recently, it was planned that it would remain there.
A 🇺🇸 NASA research plane burst into flames after making a belly landing in Houston following a technical malfunction.
The NASA WB-57 aircraft experienced a “mechanical issue” as it landed without landing gear at Ellington Airport, southeast of Houston, on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
“Today, a mechanical issue with one of NASA’s WB-57s resulted in a gear-up landing at Ellington Field,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens announced on X. “Response to the incident is ongoing…”
Two people were inside the aircraft when it crash-landed, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. All crew members on board “are safe at this time,” confirmed Stevens.
Footage shared by Khou 11 shows the NASA jet approaching Ellington airfield without its landing gear visible, before landing on its belly as flames erupt from underneath the plane, followed by a trail of smoke. Several fire trucks are seen surrounding the plane afterwards.
The Canberra aircraft landed at around 11:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, after experiencing a “serious malfunction and failure with the landing gear” of the plane, according to OSINTdefender on X.
According to the Houston Fire Department (HFD), the front landing gear of the plane failed, causing it to land on its belly, per Fox 5 Atlanta. No one was injured in the incident, according to the outlet.
The runway was closed following the incident as the aircraft was removed, Jim Szczesniak, Director of Aviation for Houston Airports, said, per Fox 5 Atlanta.
Witness Nevada Vazquez filmed the plane as it approached the runway, before bursting into flames. “I was casually filming the aircraft while it was on a test flight and happened to capture the accident while filming it coming in,” she told Storyful.
“A thorough investigation will be conducted by NASA into the cause,” said NASA spokesperson Stevens. “NASA will transparently update the public as we gather more information.”
PEOPLE reached out to NASA and the HFD for further comment, but they did not immediately respond.
🇷🇺 Russia and 🇺🇦 Ukraine returned bodies of their soldiers on Thursday, marking the first such exchange between the two warring countries this year.
Russia transferred the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers while receiving the bodies of 38 Russian servicemen, State Duma lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of the ruling United Russia party, told the RBC news website.
Saraliyev shared photos showing people in white hazmat suits gathered around refrigerated trucks, as well as cars marked with the International Red Cross logo.
Ukraine’s headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war confirmed the exchange, thanking the Red Cross for its help.
“Repatriation efforts took place today, resulting in the return to Ukraine of 1,000 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian defenders,” the headquarters wrote on Telegram.
“Law enforcement investigators, in collaboration with Ukrainian forensic experts, will now carry out all necessary measures to identify the repatriated deceased,” it added.
While the location of the exchange was not disclosed, a photo shared by the Ukrainian headquarters showed a road sign in the distance saying “Chernihiv,” suggesting it took place in northern Ukraine near the border with Belarus and Russia’s Bryansk region.
The repatriation of fallen soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war have been one of the few areas of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow and Kyiv carried out 14 exchanges in 2025, with 14,480 bodies returned to Ukraine and 391 bodies returned to Russia.