KYIV, 24 Jan: A Russian military transport plane crashed Wednesday in a border region near Ukraine, and Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting it down, saying all 74 people aboard were killed, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war headed for a swap. Russia offered no evidence and Ukraine did not immediately confirm or deny it.
Video of the crash on social media from the Belgorod border region of Russia showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a massive ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.
The Associated Press could not confirm who was aboard or other details on what brought the plane down. Throughout the 700-day war, Russia and Ukraine have traded conflicting accusations, and establishing the facts has often been difficult, both because of the constraints of a war zone and because each side tightly controls information.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said the Il-76 transport plane was carrying 65 POWs, a crew of six and three Russian servicemen. It said Russian radar registered the launch of two missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region that borders Belgorod.
Hours after the crash, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made no mention of it in a statement. But it added that Ukraine targets Russian military transport planes believed to be delivering missiles, especially near the border.
Russia lost two warplanes and two helicopters in its own airspace in one day in May 2023. Kyiv officials initially denied involvement but later said they had used Patriot missiles to hit the aircraft.
The Kharkiv and Belgorod regions have long been a focus of the fighting between the neighbors, including airstrikes with missiles and drones.
First responders rushed to the crash site in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, state news agency Tass reported, citing an emergency services official. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said a military commission was headed to the scene.
The Russian military said the POWs were being flown to the region for a prisoner swap when the plane was downed at 11:15 a.m. local time (0815 GMT; 3:15 a.m. EST). The Il-76 is designed to carry up to 225 troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons, according to Russia’s military export agency.
The Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman, Andrii Yusov, confirmed to media that a prisoner swap was to happen Wednesday but was not going ahead. He said the agency is checking whether Ukrainian POWs were on the plane.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was headed to the Belgorod region from the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region, and the POW swap was scheduled to take place at the Kolotilovka crossing on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The crossing is about 135 kilometers (85 miles) west of the village of Yablonovo, near where the plane fell.
Russian officials and lawmakers expressed outrage and questioned whether there should be further prisoner swaps. The most recent one, b rokered by the United Arab Emirates, took place this month and was the biggest to date, with 230 Ukrainian POWs returning home and 248 Russians released. It was the first in almost five months and the 49th of the war.
Russia has largely ensured its air dominance during the war against Ukraine’s fleet of Soviet-era warplanes. But Russia has suffered a series of crashes that some observers have attributed to a higher number of flights amid the fighting in Ukraine.
At the same time, Kyiv has boasted of shooting down two Russian command and control planes, which would be a major feat for Ukraine if true. Cross-border attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region also have increased, with the deadliest one killing 25 people in December.
Shortly before the crash, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel a “missile alert” had been triggered in the region.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said it was looking into the crash but did not immediately provide any information. Instead, it cautioned against sharing “unverified information.”
“We emphasize that the enemy is actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilizing Ukrainian society,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the morning that he could not comment on the crash because he didn’t have enough information about it. There was no comment from the Kremlin later in the day. (AP)