Jan. 24 (UPI) — Russian authorities said all 74 passengers on a military aircraft carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed when the plane crashed in the southern Belgorod region of Russia, with some Russian politicians blaming Ukrainian forces.
The Ilyushin-76 military transport plane, which came down in a field in Karocha district northeast of Belgorod was bringing 65 Ukrainian POWs to the region as part of a prisoner swap, the official Tass news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.
A Ukraine military intelligence spokesman confirmed a prisoner swap had been due to take place, but was now canceled.
A video carried by the BBC, which it said it had verified, shows an aircraft plummeting to the ground and a fireball rising into the sky.
State Duma Committee on International Affairs Chief Leonid Slutsky said it was a friendly fire incident.
“This not the first time the Ukrainian military has hit its own” accusing Washington and Brussels of being equally responsible for the “shooting of prisoners of war in the air,” he said without providing any evidence.
State Duma’s Defense Committee head Andrey Kartapolov, said that the plane could have been shot down by U.S-supplied Patriot air defense missiles or the German-made IRIS-T.
However, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to join in the speculation.
“I can’t comment on the issue, it’s fairly new, fresh information, we will deal with it now,” he said.
Kyiv reacted with fury alleging the claim was another Russian misinformation plot with the Ukraine Armed Forces saying it was in fact “their job,” while the country’s General Staff said the aircraft was carrying missiles for Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft weapons system, the same type fired in attacks Tuesday on Kharkiv region and other adjacent Ukrainian territory.
The incident comes three weeks after Russia and Ukraine successfully exchanged almost 500 POWs in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Ukraine got back 230 of its own in the Jan. 3 swap, including 213 soldiers and sergeants, 11 officers and six civilians while Ukraine handed over 248 Russian troops it was holding.
