A Ukrainian missile hitting an Il-76 aircraft carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs led to a complete loss of control and crash of the aircraft, Russian media reported.
On January 24, a Russian military transport plane was shot down over the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine. All 74 people on board, including 65 POWs, six crew members and three Russian servicemen, perished.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stated that Ukraine’s intelligence services knew about the POWs on the plane, condemning the strike. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the crash “raises a big question about the possibility of [reaching] any agreements” with Kyiv.
Shortly after the crash, Ukrainian media published an article claiming that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had shot down the Il-76. However, the stories about the military’s involvement in the explosion then vanished, with the intelligence service saying that Russia had allegedly failed to notify them of the aircraft’s flyover.
Ukrainian officials confirmed that a prisoner exchange was due to take place on Wednesday (January 24) but was cancelled under unspecified circumstances. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would seek an international investigation.
