As of: January 24, 2024, 1:31 p.m
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A model of the Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport aircraft (archive image).
© Sergei Grits/AP/dpa
A Russian military transporter crashed in the Belgorod region.
According to Russian sources, dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board.
Did Ukraine shoot down the plane?
Moscow - A Russian military transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, reportedly carrying more than 70 people.
This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
There were 9 Russian crew members and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Ilyushin Il-76 machine, the Tass agency reported.
Russian politicians accuse Ukraine of shooting down the plane.
They make serious accusations against the government in Kiev.
“The Ukrainian leadership knew very well about the planned prisoner exchange and was informed about how the prisoners would be transported,” said the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, in Moscow.
He did not provide any evidence to support his account.
He further claimed that the plane was shot down with American or German anti-aircraft missiles.
According to him, 65 prisoners of war were flown on the plane to a planned exchange.
Another Il-76 aircraft with 80 more prisoners on board turned back after being shot down.
In total there should have been an exchange of 192 Ukrainians for 192 Russian prisoners, which has now failed.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the alleged prisoners of war in the plane.
Apparently no survivors
According to Kartapolov, the military aircraft was brought down by three anti-aircraft missiles from either the US Patriot system or the German Iris-T system.
The claim cannot yet be independently verified.
The Il-76 crash site in the western Russian region of Belgorod is about 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
According to official information, there are no survivors.
“All people on board died,” the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on his Telegram channel.
The crash site has been cordoned off and the cause of the accident is being investigated, he added.
In Kiev, the news portal Ukrayinska Pravda reported, citing military sources, that the Ukrainian side confirmed the crash.
According to information from the General Staff, the aircraft was supposed to bring S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to the front.
Ukraijinska Pravda had originally also reported that the Ukrainian military had spoken of the plane being shot down.
This version was then changed.
dpa