Russia accuses kyiv of shooting down a plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners “with American and German missiles”

2024-01-24 13:46:46

And Il-76 military aircraft It has crashed in the Russian region of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine. According to Moscow, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were traveling on the plane with nine other people of Russian nationality. All of them have died.

The plane crashed in the Korochanski district near a “populated area.” The Russian Defense Ministry maintains that the prisoners were to be exchanged for Russian soldiers in the next few hours.

Rodion Miroshnik, a senior official at the Foreign Ministry, has blamed Kiev for what he considers a “demolition” and has indicated that it is an “act of barbarism” which shows a total disregard for human life.” The case, he said, will be investigated and those responsible will be brought to justice. The catastrophe “seriously calls into question the possibility of any type of agreement” with Ukraine, he warned.

For their part, the Ukrainian authorities have said they are “analyzing” the information collected so far about the incident and have asked the population “Do not jump to conclusions” given that Russia “uses terrible methods to destabilize Ukrainian society.” Ukrainian media have pointed out that The plane was carrying weapons, not prisoners..

With the “weapons of the West”

The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, has indicated to the media that the authorities are working to clarify the circumstances of what happened, while the president of the Duma Defense Commission, Andrei Kartapolov, has attributed the incident to a three-missile attack. Furthermore, he has stated that a second plane also carrying prisoners turned around after the first aircraft crashed.

Duma Speaker Viacheslav Volodin has accused Ukraine of attacking the aircraft with weapons supplied by the West. “They killed their own soldiers in the air, their mothers, their children were waiting for them. They shot down our pilots (…) with American and German missiles“, pointing out that they were missiles from the “German-made Patriot or Iris-T air defense system.”