Ukraine Indirectly Admits It Shot Down Large Russian Transport Plane, Possibly With Own POWs On Board
Update(12:10ET): The Kremlin is accusing Ukraine of shooting down the Russian Il-76 military transport plane that crashed in a border region near Ukraine. All 74 people aboard have been reported killed, including the 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were allegedly on board being transported.
The Kharkiv and Belgorod regions in particular have for months witnessed a huge uptick in aggressive Ukrainian military cross-border action, which has included use of missiles, mortars, and drones.
New reporting in The Associated Press suggests that Kiev has made an indirect admission of guilt, but there was no mention of Ukrainian POWs dying. "Hours after the crash, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made no mention of the crash in a statement," writes AP. "But it added that Ukraine targets Russian military transport planes believed to be delivering missiles, especially near the border."
BREAKING: Video of plane crash in Russia shows missile trace in the sky, suggesting it was shot down pic.twitter.com/k75m9l9pmw
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 24, 2024
This major incident not only points to more severe Russian escalation and retaliation on the horizon, but puts in peril any future Russia-Ukraine prisoner swaps, after a large recent one was successfully accomplished.
"Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed a swap was due to take place but said it had no information about who was on the crashed Russian plane," the AP notes further. "Moscow did not ask for specific airspace to be kept safe for a certain length of time, as has happened in past exchanges, it said in a statement."
Moments before the crash, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov issued an emergency notification on his Telegram channel saying a "missile alert" had been triggered in the region. According to more from Russia's direct accusation against Kiev:
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shooting the plane down with air-defense missiles. “By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true face, disregarding the lives of its citizens,” the ministry said.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry initially refused to comment on the incident. Ukrainskaya Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper, initially reported that the plane was indeed shot down by the country’s military, but edited its article on the incident shortly afterwards to remove this information.
Likely Ukrainian cities are bracing for more Russian drone and missile attacks, given this has typically followed any major event where Ukraine's military strikes Russian territory or large military assets.
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Update (0759 ET): The Russian Ministry of Defence claims Russian radar systems detected two Ukrainian missiles in the area before the Russian transport plane full of Ukrainian prisoners crashed.
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A Russian military plane transporting dozens of Ukrainian prisoners, as well as nine crew and guards, crashed in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defence released a statement about the incident:
"An Il-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod region at around 11 a.m. on January 24 while on a scheduled flight. It was transporting 65 captive servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the Belgorod region for an exchange, in addition to six crewmembers and three accompanying persons."
Bloomberg cited Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Defence Committee of the State Duma of Russia, who told the lower house of parliament that Ukraine downed the transport plane using either the US Patriot system or German-made IRIS-T.
‼️ Il-76 military plane crashes in Belgorod region
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 24, 2024
There were 63 people on board, Russian media reported. All of them died
The estimated value of the plane is 27 million dollars.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that there were Ukrainian prisoners on board the plane. The… pic.twitter.com/3doCOmZuX7
The ministry also said the Russian Aerospace Forces is responding and has been sent to the incident area to investigate the cause of the crash.
Russain news agency Interfax said President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on the crash, telling journalists that the information was still "too fresh."
This comes as Ukraine and Russia exchanged nearly 500 prisoners earlier this month, the largest swap since the early days of the war.
There have also been reports Western allies have secretly met with Ukraine on a peace plan with Russia as the US presidential election cycle gears up.