A Russian IL-76 military transport plane crashed on Wednesday, January 24, in the Belgorod region of Russia, with neither the origin of the crash nor the identity of the passengers confirmed. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, "the accident occurred at around 11 am Moscow time. On board were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, transported to the Belgorod region for an exchange, six crew members and three Russian servicemen." All those on board were killed, said the governor of Belgorod region.
Posted on social media, the video of the accident shows a plane falling out of the sky in a snow-covered rural area, then a fireball erupting as the plane hits the ground. Russia accused Ukraine of shooting it down and declared it was an act of terrorism.
"Radar equipment of the Russian armed forces observed the launch of two Ukrainian missiles," said the Russian Defense Ministry in their statement, claiming that the plane had been shot down from Lyptsi, a village in the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, which borders Russia. According to the ministry, Ukraine "knew" that prisoners would be transported on Wednesday. The exchange was due to take place in the afternoon at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border, the ministry added.
On Thursday, the Kremlin denounced a "monstrous act." "No one can tell you what impact this will have on the prospects for prolonging the process" of the prisoner exchange, warned its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday at Moscow's request.
The Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed the presence of any prisoners on board, nor claimed responsibility for the aircraft's destruction. On Wednesday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky called for an international investigation. "It is obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and the emotions of our society," said the Ukrainian president in his daily address, without confirming or denying that the victims were indeed prisoners from his country.
Earlier, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda claimed that the plane was carrying missiles for the S-300 air defense system and that it had been shot down by Ukrainian defense forces. It later changed its information, stating that other official sources had not confirmed this. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the "information [was] still being clarified."
Margarita Simonian, editor-in-chief of Russian state broadcaster RT, posted on Telegram a list of names presented as those of Ukrainian prisoners on board. According to the Telegram channel Mash, 12 members of the Ukrainian Azov regiment were among them. Several Russian and Ukrainian sources noted, however, that at least one of the POWs on the list, Maksym Anatoliyovych Konovalenko, had already been released in a previous POW exchange on January 3.
You have 45% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.