On Wednesday around 11am local time (9am Italian time) a Russian military plane crashed in the Belgorod region, near the north-eastern border of Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said there were six crew members, three soldiers and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board who were to be transported to Belgorod for a prisoner exchange with Ukraine. The region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said all 74 passengers had died. It is currently impossible to verify the information independently.
It is unclear what caused the plane to crash: Russia he accused Ukraine shot it down, but there is no confirmation. The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement claiming that Ukraine was aware that some Ukrainian prisoners were scheduled to be airlifted to Belgorod on Wednesday afternoon, as previously agreed by the two countries: «By carrying out this terrorist act, the Ukrainian government has shown its true face,” the ministry said.
Ukrainian military intelligence on Wednesday afternoon he said that they were still verifying whether there were indeed Ukrainian citizens on board, and that they had no “reliable information” in this regard. In a statement, the intelligence community confirmed that a prisoner exchange was indeed planned on Wednesday afternoon, but said it was “Russia’s task to ensure the safety” of those involved in the deal.
The intelligence added that it had not received any requests regarding the need to avoid clashes in the airspace around Belgorod in a certain time slot, as had happened in the past. According to intelligence, Russia thus “deliberately endangered” the prisoners on the plane. For now, Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied having shot down the plane.
The Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda initially wrote that the plane had been shot down by the Ukrainian army, citing General Staff funds, but he later recanted saying the sources did not “indicate” Ukraine’s involvement. Other sources close to the Defense Ministry said they could not confirm the information. Also the Kyiv Independent newspaper he said that he was unable to independently confirm the cause of the plane’s crash. According to sources initially cited by Ukrainskaya Pravda, there were S-300 missiles on board the plane.
Shortly after the fall, the region’s governor Gladkov called it an “accident.” However, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its radar detected the launch of two Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles shortly before the plane crashed, but provided no evidence of this. MP Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general, also told the Russian parliament that the plane crashed after being hit by missiles, of the type supplied by Western countries to Ukraine. He also provided no evidence to support his statements.
In a video whose reliability has been verified, the plane is seen falling and exploding after hitting the ground. According to two military experts consulted by BBC News the images shown in the video would be compatible with the shooting down of the plane in flight.