A big Russian army transport airplane crashed on Wednesday within the Belgorod area close to the border with Ukraine, state information companies stated, citing a press release by the Russian Protection Ministry. Everybody onboard was killed, the regional governor stated.
The Protection Ministry stated that the airplane had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict who had been being transferred to the area to be exchanged for Russian service personnel. The declare couldn’t be independently verified. The airplane was additionally carrying six crew members and three different people, the ministry stated, in keeping with Tass, a Russian state information company.
The governor of the Belgorod area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, stated in a statement on social media that the airplane had crashed in a discipline close to a settlement within the Korochansky district and that there have been no survivors. He stated that emergency providers had been on the website and had been investigating.
A video posted to Telegram and verified by The Instances confirmed a big airplane crashing and exploding in Yablonovo, a city within the Korochansky district.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s army intelligence company, stated in an interview with Radio Liberty that his nation was trying into Russia’s assertions that prisoners of conflict had been onboard. And he stated: “I can state that the exchange planned for today is currently not taking place,” with out elaborating.
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to touch upon the crash stories, telling journalists that the knowledge was nonetheless “too fresh.” The Russian Air Pressure command dispatched a gaggle to the scene of the crash to attempt to decide the trigger, in keeping with the Protection Ministry assertion.
The airplane, an Il-76, was designed a long time in the past within the Soviet Union to carry out army duties resembling airlifting troops, cargo and weapons.
Andrei Kartapolov, a Russian lawmaker, said at a session of the State Duma, the decrease home of Parliament, that the Il-76 had been shot down by three Ukrainian missiles. He stated that one other airplane carrying prisoners of conflict had been diverted after the crash. He didn’t present any proof for his declare, and it couldn’t be independently verified. Mr. Kartapolov also said that every one potential alternate offers between Russia and Ukraine had been postponed.
The Belgorod area of Russia has a protracted border with Ukraine. Over the previous few weeks, it has been the scene of frequent Ukrainian assaults, together with a missile bombardment in December. It was additionally the staging floor for Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and for additional Russian strikes towards Ukrainian territory throughout the conflict.
Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging prisoners for the reason that begin of the conflict by means of offers brokered by a third-party, such because the Turkey or the United Arab Emirates. These offers have been very sophisticated, with the edges meticulously negotiating each element.
In early January, after a protracted pause in exchanges that adopted the release in Turkey of five former commanders of Ukraine’s garrison in the Azovstal steel plant, which angered Moscow, Russia and Ukraine performed the largest exchange of prisoners for the reason that begin of the conflict.
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting.
