France rejected Russia’s request to convene a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday to address the crash of a Russian warplane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange, Russia’s mission to the UN announced on Thursday.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky stated that France “is abusing its powers as chairman of the Security Council in January and refuses to meet our demand for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council” over the crash of the Il-76, adding that France is trying “to buy time” for Ukraine to “come up with at least some kind of plausible explanation.”
On Wednesday, the Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of shooting down an Il-76 military plane carrying captured Ukrainian servicemen for a prisoner swap. 65 captive Ukrainian military personnel, six crew members and three attendants were on board. None survived.
The Ukrainian authorities were “well aware of the planned transport” in advance, the ministry added.
