Russia accuses Ukraine of shooting down military transport plane
Russia has accused Ukraine of shooting down a military transport plane, killing 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and nine others.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that Ukraine had shot down the plane, an Ilyushin Il-76, which came down in Russia’s Belgorod region near Ukraine.
Six crew members and three other people were also on the flight, the ministry said.
The crash happened at around 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to go down or if anyone survived.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash, and a special military commission was called to the crash site, the ministry added.
The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing the ministry, reported that the POWs were being transported to the border region for a prisoner exchange, according to the Associated Press.
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a call that he could not comment on the crash as he did not have enough information.
Andrei Kartapolov, a member of the Russian parliament and retired general, claimed during a parliamentary session that the plane had been shot down by three missiles. He did not say where he had obtained that information, Reuters reported.
A video posted on Telegram, a messaging app, showed a large aircraft falling to the ground near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region and exploding in a vast fireball. The video was posted by Baza, a channel linked to Russian security services.
Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that an unspecified "incident" had occurred in the region's Korochansky district, northeast of Belgorod city and that he was going to inspect the site. He said investigators and emergency workers were already on the scene.
The plane was identified as an Ilyushin Il-76, a military transport aircraft used to airlift troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons.
Belgorod region sits on the border with Ukraine and has been attacked by Ukrainian forces several times in recent months, including a December missile strike that killed 25 people.
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