Russia accuses Kiev of shooting down a plane carrying prisoners of war

Moscow. Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of shooting down a military transport plane carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners. All on board the plane died in the accident.

An unverified video on social media shows a large plane falling from the sky before it burst into flames and crashed in Russia’s western Belgorod region.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia said that the Il-76 plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian soldiers, six crew members and three escorts caught in the Russian attack. The ministry called the incident a “terrorist act” saying that the Ukrainian army stationed in the Kharkiv border area fired two missiles at the transport plane.

A Ukrainian government agency responsible for issues related to prisoners of war said it was investigating the claims. AFP has not been able to independently confirm the Russian claim, but the incident would represent one of the deadliest episodes of full-scale war in recent weeks.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the accident happened a few hours before the agreement on the exchange of prisoners on the border of Belgorod on Wednesday. “Ukrainian leadership was well aware that Ukrainian soldiers who were to be exchanged in accordance with established practice were being taken to Belgorod airport today by military transport aircraft,” the ministry said.

There has been no response from Kiev on this. Local media initially cited defense sources as saying that the Ukrainian military downed the plane and that it was carrying a missile. The claim was later withdrawn.

Ukrainian investigating officer Dmytro Lubinets, one of the officials responsible for the exchange of prisoners, said that his office is investigating the incident. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the accident happened at around 8:00 GMT in the Korochansky district, northeast of the capital of the Belgorod region.

According to him, the plane crashed in a field and the area was cordoned off while investigators and emergency services arrived at the scene. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment. He said that the news about the accident is still coming in and the authorities will “investigate” the incident.

The head of Russian state broadcaster RT has published a list of Ukrainian soldiers allegedly captured on board. The issue of prisoners of war is sensitive in both countries. Despite full-scale hostilities, the two sides managed to exchange 49 prisoners after the war began about two years ago.

According to Ukraine, more than 8,000 Ukrainians are in Russian prisons. In 2022, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of carrying out a deadly bombing of a prison housing dozens of Ukrainian soldiers held in the Kremlin-controlled Olenivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
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