Russia accuses Kiev of shooting down plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners

Nga cáo buộc Kiev bắn rơi máy bay chở 65 tù binh Ukraine - 1 — The moment the Russian transport plane exploded (Photo: Telegram).

On January 24, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Kiev of shooting down Moscow's IL-76 transport plane, which was carrying 74 people, including 6 crew members, 3 passengers, and 65 prisoners of war who were Ukrainian soldiers.

Russia has confirmed that all 74 people on board the plane were killed after it crashed in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border.

Nga cáo buộc Kiev bắn rơi máy bay chở 65 tù binh Ukraine - 2 — Site of the plane crash (Graphic: Sputnik).

The Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow's radar detected Ukraine launching two missiles at the time the transport plane crashed.

"The plane was attacked by Ukrainian forces from Liptsy, Kharkov region with an air defense missile system," Russia alleged.

The IL-76 crashed while carrying Ukrainian soldiers to the border area for a prisoner exchange with Russia. The accident occurred at 11:15 (local time).

According to the previously agreed agreement, the prisoner exchange is scheduled to take place in the afternoon of January 24 at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russia-Ukraine border.

Russia said Ukraine knew the prisoners would be sent to Belgorod for an exchange, but the incident still happened.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called the IL-76 crash the result of "internal political conflict among the elite in Ukraine." He did not elaborate on this statement.

Viktor Bondarev, chairman of the Defense Committee of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament), said the IL-76 crew had time to report to the command post that the transport aircraft had been subjected to "external impact."

Mr Bondarev said he had no doubt the plane had been shot down.

Russian MP Andrey Kartapolov accused Kiev of knowing about the planned prisoner exchange but still deliberately attacking the plane. He suspected that a missile of Western origin was used in the incident.

Mr. Kartapolov said that the parties were then preparing to exchange prisoners in the form of "exchanging 192 for 192". However, he announced that after this incident, the prisoner exchange would be suspended.

According to expert Andrei Koshkin, a retired Russian colonel, in the final minutes, the IL-76 crew made great efforts to fly the burning transport plane away from the Yablonovo residential area.

"The plane crashed in a field. The crew spotted the plane in distress in the air but tried to steer it to an unpopulated area to reduce the number of victims," he predicted.

Russian plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners crashes

Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda quoted a source from the Ukrainian armed forces as saying that the crash of the Russian IL-76 plane today in the Belgorod region appeared to be "carried out by Kiev."

Sources in the Ukrainian General Staff said the plane was shot down as it was believed to be carrying an S-300 air defense missile.

Ukraine has not yet made an official comment on the accusations from Russia, but said it would look into the relevant information.

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