Sources from the Ukrainian General Staff have informed the
Pravda
newspaper and the state news agency Ukrinform this Wednesday that one of their missiles has shot down a Russian military plane that, according to that high command, was transporting weapons, specifically S-300 rockets.
Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense, cited by official media, had announced that an Ilyushin Il-76 model military transport aircraft had crashed in the Russian region of Belgorod with at least 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The Ukrainian agency Interfax has also pointed out, based on sources in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, that the plane was shot down by its army shortly after takeoff.
Officially, this ministry has stressed in a statement that they cannot confirm this information and have asked for time to gather more information about the event.
A video recorded by a neighbor with his cell phone, and which has been spread on social networks, shows how the plane plummets to the ground.
In the trajectory followed by the Il-76, a cloud of smoke is identified that would coincide with that of a rocket impact.
In this area of Belgorod, the alarm of a possible air attack remained activated at that time, so Ukrainian defense analysts speculate that the device could also have been shot down by Russian anti-aircraft defenses.
The Coordination Center for Prisoners of War, an agency of the Ukrainian Government, has asked the media and citizens in a statement to avoid spreading unconfirmed information.
The center assures that they are working to clarify what happened and warns that Russia maintains disinformation operations "to destabilize Ukrainian society."
The chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, the Russian parliament, Andrei Kartapolov, had accused Kiev of shooting down the plane, even before sources in the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed it to
Pravda
and
Ukrinform.
“Approximately at 11 o'clock [nine in the morning in Spanish peninsular time] an IL-76 plane crashed near Belgorod airport.
On board were 65 prisoners of war from the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be exchanged.
"They managed to destroy it," said this senior official.
According to Kartapolov, a second plane carrying 80 more prisoners was covering the same route.
“The Ukrainian leaders were well aware of the exchange and were informed of the method of delivery of the prisoners, but the plane was shot down by three German-made Patriot or Iris missiles,” he added, before ruling out any future prisoner exchange with Ukraine.
The Patriot and Iris-T are anti-aircraft defense weapons provided to Ukraine by its NATO allies.
The president of the Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, has announced, for his part, that the Russian lower house will send an official message to the United States Congress and the German Bundestag about this demolition.
Moscow's objective with this letter is to sow doubts among Western politicians about military support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.
This seems to be indicated by Volodin's statements, which he stated: “Thus the [Western] deputies will finally see the light;
who they finance, who they help.
“This is the Nazi regime fueled by Biden, Macron, Scholz and other politicians.”
The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has suffered frequent Ukrainian attacks in recent months, including a rocket attack in December that killed 25 people, according to Russian authorities.
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