New Delhi: A Russian military transport plane “carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war” crashed in the country’s Belgorod region Wednesday, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
The prisoners were reportedly headed for a prisoner exchange between the two countries, currently engaged in a war that began two years ago.
Russian news agency TASS quoted the country’s defence ministry as saying that “an Ilyushin-76 transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region during a scheduled flight at about 11 am Moscow time (8 am GMT)”.
“There were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being moved to the Belgorod region for an exchange, and three escorts on board,” it said, adding that the Russian Aerospace Forces had set up a panel of inquiry to look into the incident.
A Russian lawmaker and retired general has blamed Ukraine for the crash.
Ukraine confirmed that a prisoner exchange was scheduled for Wednesday, but said “it is not happening at the moment”, CNN reported.
The report added that the Ukrainian government agency tasked with prisoners of war had issued a statement saying it is investigating claims that the plane was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war. The statement, the report said, also warned that Russia was “actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilising Ukrainian society”.
BBC quoted Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov as confirming that all passengers onboard the Ilyushin-76 plane — including six crew members and three escorts — had died.
“A transport plane crashed in the Korochansky district. It fell in a field near the village. All those on board were killed,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
He added that the crash site had been cordoned off and an investigation was being carried out.
Russian state media said the Ilyushin Il-76 was shot down near the Russian city of Belgorod on the Ukrainian border.
Retired general and Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov said the act was “absolutely deliberate”. “They knew very well that the plane was en route, where it was going and the operators of (Ukrainian) surface-to-air missile systems cannot mistake transport planes for military planes or helicopters as targets,” Kartapolov said in a TV interview with the SHOT outlet, as reported by Reuters.
“It was done deliberately to sabotage the prisoner exchange,” he added, saying the plane had been shot down by three missiles of either US or German origin.
If the details are confirmed, the Reuters report said, “it would be the deadliest incident of the almost two-year-old war inside Russia’s internationally recognised borders”.
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