On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of intentionally downing a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to a prisoner exchange.
The incident, near the Russian city of Belgorod, was labeled a “barbaric act of terrorism” by Russia, resulting in the deaths of 74 people, including six Russian crew members and three soldiers.
According to the Russian defense ministry, the Ukrainian leadership was aware of the planned prisoner exchange, scheduled to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The ministry condemned the act as terrorism, asserting that Ukraine disregarded the lives of its own citizens.
Video footage posted on the Telegram messaging app and verified by Reuters showed the large aircraft plummeting towards the ground near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region, exploding in a massive fireball.
While a Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, mentioned that comments would be provided later, Ukrainian media initially suggested that the plane may have been shot down because it was carrying S-300 missiles, later correcting the information.
Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov claimed that the incident was a deliberate act to sabotage the prisoner exchange, asserting that the operators of Ukrainian surface-to-air missile systems could not have mistaken the transport plane for a military target. He mentioned that the downed plane was not escorted by Russian fighter planes as the flight had been coordinated with the Ukrainians.
The Russian defense ministry reported the detection of two Ukrainian missile launches at the time of the incident, and Kartapolov claimed that the plane was hit by three missiles of either US or German manufacture.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, confirmed that all 74 people on board were killed, and the wreckage was located in the region’s Korochansky district. The Belgorod region has experienced frequent attacks from Ukraine, including a December missile strike that resulted in 25 casualties.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, announced plans to appeal to the US Congress and the German parliament, accusing Ukraine of shooting down its own soldiers on a humanitarian mission with American and German rockets. The Kremlin stated it was investigating the situation in response to media inquiries.
