Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own POWs by shooting down plane

Reuters: A video by the Baza channel, linked to Russian security services, and confirmed by Reuters, shows a large aircraft crashing to the ground near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region and exploding in a huge fireball.

▪️ Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, told Reuters, “Comments will come a little later. Time is needed to clarify all the data.”

▪️ Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency GUR, told Radio Liberty that a prisoner swap had been planned for Wednesday, adding, “It is not currently taking place.”

▪️ Ukraine’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said it did not yet have reliable information but would share it when it became available.

▪️ Ukrainian media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda initially reported, citing military sources, that Kiev shot down the plane because it was carrying S-300 missiles, but later corrected itself, saying the information had not been confirmed by other sources.

▪️ Russian parliamentary deputy and retired general Andrei Kartapolov said in a TV interview with SHOT: “This was done on purpose to disrupt the prisoner exchange.” He said the plane was not escorted by Russian fighter jets because the flight had been agreed with the Ukrainians.

▪️ If the details are confirmed, it would be the deadliest incident of its kind within Russia’s borders in the nearly two-year conflict.

▪️ Reuters could not immediately confirm who was on board the downed plane, but Moscow and Kiev have regularly exchanged prisoners since Russia launched what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.

▪️ Russian state media published a list of the names of 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers said to have been on board the plane, along with their dates of birth.

▪️ Former Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev said without citing evidence that the downed plane was the result of infighting in the Ukrainian political elite.

The entire article can be read at the link https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-il-76-military-transport-plane-crashes-near-ukrainian-border-russian-2024-01-24/