A Russian military plane carrying 74 people crashed in the Belgorod region, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, according to Russian news agency RAI Novosti. Russian news agencies, citing the Defense Ministry, said 65 of the people on board were Ukrainian servicemen who were being flown to Belgorod ahead of a prisoner exchange. CNN cannot independently verify this claim.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the reported accident. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “This is quite new information, we will deal with it now. I can’t say anything yet.”
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that “an investigation team and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working at the scene. I changed my work schedule and went to the area. All the details later.”
Gladkov said the “incident” took place in the Korochansky district of the Belgorod region, northeast of the city of Belgorod.
The border town of Belgorod was the scene of one of the deadliest Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil late last year. At least 24 people, including three children, were killed and 108 others injured in the attacks, which sparked retaliatory Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
The plane crash comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine is about to enter its third year, with little progress on the battlefield by either side in recent months. Western intelligence assessments warn that battlefield movement could stall further this year.
Kyiv and Moscow have exchanged prisoners of war throughout the conflict. The largest exchange occurred in early January, when the two sides exchanged more than 200 prisoners each.
This is a developing story and will be updated.