Ukraine blamed for crash of Russian plane ‘carrying POWS’

A church service for those killed in the Russian IL-76 military transport plane crash; Below: Video captures the moment of the crash “a terrorist act”.

Ukrainian media has claimed sources within the country’s militaryhavetakenresponsibility for the crash, saying they targetedtheaircraft,whichtheysay was carrying missiles intended for Russia’s S-300 air defence system.

It has not yet been verified what caused the crash, or who or what was on board the plane.

Firefighters, ambulances and police rushed to the site in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, state news agency Tass reported,citingalocalemergencyservicesofficial.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the POWS were being flown to the region for a prisoner swap when the plane was downed at 11.15am local time (8.15am GMT).

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov confirmed to media that a prisoner swap was to happen yesterday,butwasnotgoingahead. Hesaidtheagencywaschecking whether Ukrainian POWS were on the plane.

The plane was en-route to the Belgorod region from the Chkalovsky air field in the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, and the POW swap was scheduled to take place at the Kolotilovka crossing on the Russian-ukrainian border, the Russian statement read.

Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia’s Belgorod region have long been a focus of the fighting, especially involving longrange air strikes with missiles and drones.

Russia has largely ensured its air dominance during the war, whichmarkedits700thdayyesterday, against Ukraine’s fleet of Soviet-era warplanes. But the Russian air force has suffered a string of crashes that some observers have attributed to a higher number of flights amid the fighting in Ukraine.

At the same time, Kyiv has boasted recently about shooting down two Russian command and control planes, which would be a major feat for Ukraine if true.

Cross-border attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region have also been ramped up lately, with the deadliest killing 21 people in late December.

Ukraine’sco-ordinationheadquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said it was looking into the crash, but did not immediately provide any information.