At least 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board a plane that crashed in western Russia's Belgorod region, Russian state media say.
www.cbsnews.com
Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane, killing all 74 people aboard, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war being swapped
abcnews.go.com
A Russian Il-76 military transport plane carrying ukrainian prisoners being held for exchange has crashed in Belgorod Region, the Defense Ministry has said.
"At about 11:00 Moscow time, the IL-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod region while performing a scheduled flight. On board were 65 captured AFU servicemen, <...> six crew members of the airplane and three escorts," the release said.
The flight route was agreed with the Ukrainian side.
A commission of the Russian Military Space Forces flew to the scene of the accident to investigate the causes of the crash.
The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper, which cited a source as saying that the AFU was responsible for the crash of the IL-76, deleted the report after it became known about the Ukrainian prisoners on board.
Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the State Duma's defense committee, told a State Duma meeting that the Russian Il-76 was shot down by the AFU with three missiles, they were either American Patriot or German IRIS T missiles. He added that after the crashed transport flew another board with 80 prisoners, it had time to turn around.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin instructed to prepare appeals to the US Congress and the Bundestag to look into "what missiles and launchers were used" to attack the Russian Il-76. According to him, foreign parliamentarians should realize that they are financing the Nazi regime and declare impeachment of the leaders of their countries.
Wouldn't be the first time. In July 2022, Ukrainian Nazis hit the prison in Yelenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held, with rockets. At least 53 prisoners were killed.
There are also videos of ukro-nazis shooting their retreating soldiers.