Russian military transport plane, an Ilyushin-76, crashed in the southern Belgorod region of Russia, claiming the lives of all 74 passengers on board.
The aircraft was reportedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) as part of a scheduled exchange, tragically ending in disaster.
The official Tass news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry, confirming the aircraft’s mission to bring Ukrainian POWs to the region for a planned prisoner swap.
The crash occurred in the Karocha district northeast of Belgorod, with a verified video by the BBC capturing the heart-wrenching moment as the plane plummeted to the ground, engulfed in a fiery explosion.
While initial reports suggested a friendly fire incident, State Duma Committee on International Affairs Chief Leonid Slutsky pointed fingers at the Ukrainian military, accusing them of hitting their own.
He implicated Washington and Brussels, alleging their equal responsibility for the “shooting of prisoners of war in the air,” although no evidence was provided.
State Duma’s Defense Committee head, Andrey Kartapolov, speculated that the plane might have been shot down by U.S-supplied Patriot air defense missiles or the German-made IRIS-T.
However, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from confirming such speculations, stating that the information was still under investigation.
Kyiv responded with outrage, dismissing the claims as another instance of Russian misinformation.
The Ukraine Armed Forces asserted that the aircraft was carrying missiles for Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft weapons system, linking it to recent attacks on Ukrainian territory.
This tragic incident unfolds just three weeks after a successful exchange of almost 500 POWs between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
The Jan. 3 swap saw Ukraine reclaiming 230 of its citizens, while 248 Russian troops were handed over.
