Documentation of a Russian plane crash near the border with Ukraine/Telegram
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last night (Wednesday) that Moscow is "playing with the lives" of Ukrainian prisoners, following the crash of a Russian transport plane that was allegedly carrying 65 of his countrymen.
Moscow claims that Ukrainian missiles shot down the Ilyushin-76 plane in the sky of the Belgorod region, near the border.
She described it as a "barbaric act of terrorism" that led to the deaths of 74 people in total.
Kiev has not officially confirmed that it is responsible for the downing of the plane, and has disputed parts of the Russian version.
It also did not confirm that there were actually Ukrainian prisoners on the plane, as Russia maintains.
Zelensky said greater clarity is needed about what happened, especially regarding the identity of the passengers.
"It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of the Ukrainian captives, the feelings of their loved ones and the feelings of our society," said Zelensky, who, according to reports in Ukraine, canceled his schedule due to the incident.
In the documents published on social networks, a large plane can be seen diving from the sky towards the ground before turning into a large fireball.
Smoke trails observed in the sky indicated the possibility that he had indeed been hit by missiles.
Ukrainian media initially reported that the Air Force was responsible for the downing of the plane, but later deleted these reports.
In Russia they demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council.
Smoke rising from the plane crash site, yesterday/screenshot, Telegram
The Russian Defense Ministry said that six crew members and three Russian soldiers were also on the plane, and that the prisoner exchange with Ukraine was to take place yesterday afternoon at a border checkpoint.
According to the ministry, Ukraine knew that a transport plane carrying the captured Ukrainian soldiers was expected to arrive at the Belgorod airport, and that Russian radar operators detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles at the time of the crash.
"By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true face.
It ignored the lives of its citizens," the ministry said in a statement. At the same time, Moscow called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, to be held tonight.
Ukraine's military intelligence service confirmed that the prisoner exchange was to take place yesterday, but added that it had not been told how Russia would bring the prisoners to the delivery point.
Ukrainian intelligence stated that Kybala was asked to secure the airspace around Belgrade, contrary to previous prisoner exchanges.
"On this basis, it is possible that these are planned and deliberate actions by Russia to undermine the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our country," the military intelligence service said in a statement published on its Telegram channel.
Without confirming that it shot down the plane, Ukraine's military said it would continue to destroy Russian military transport planes it says are carrying missiles for attacks on cities in the country.
The Ukrainian military added that it had spotted more Russian military transport planes landing in Belgrade, which it linked to Russian missile attacks on Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities in recent days.
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The deadliest incident in Russian territory since the outbreak of the war.
Police officers near the scene of the crash, yesterday/Reuters
The commander of the Air Force of Ukraine, Mykola Olshchuk, said that Kyiv "has the right to defend itself and destroy the air attack means of the attackers."
If indeed Ukraine shot down the plane, it is the deadliest incident inside the territory of Russia since the outbreak of the war almost two years ago.
According to the military intelligence service, Kiev fulfilled the terms of the planned prisoner exchange deal and the captured Russian soldiers involved in it were transferred to the agreed exchange point, on time and safely.
It was also reported that "landing a transport plane in a 30 km combat zone cannot be safe, and in any case both sides must discuss it, otherwise it endangers the entire exchange process." The
Ukrainian military intelligence emphasized that they have no reliable information about the plane's passengers. The media The official in Russia published a list that allegedly contained the names and dates of birth of the 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers who were on the plane, but according to some of the Ukrainian media, it included some names of prisoners who had already been exchanged.
Over the past two years, Moscow and Kiev regularly exchange prisoners despite the war between them, but in the Kremlin They said today that it is not possible to know how the downing of the plane yesterday will affect other deals in the future.
Russian parliament member Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general, claimed that "it was done on purpose to sabotage the exchange of prisoners." According to him, another Russian transport plane of the same type, carrying about 80 More Ukrainian prisoners, turned around and retraced his steps.Kartapolov, who has close ties to the Russian Defense Ministry, said the plane was shot down by three missiles made by the United States or Germany.
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