This Friday, two days after the crash of a military transport plane, Vladimir Putin claimed that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian forces. The Russian president also assures that Ukraine knew that the plane was transporting Ukrainian prisoners.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday it was “glaring” that the Il-76 military transport plane that crashed in the border area on Wednesday had been shot down by Ukrainian forces. On Wednesday, an Il-76 transport plane crashed near the Russian village of Yablonovo, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
“It’s a crime”
Russian authorities say the crash killed 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were being transferred for an exchange with kyiv. “The intelligence services of the Ukrainian army knew that we were carrying 65 soldiers (Ukrainians, editor’s note) on board. They shot him down, by mistake or on purpose, but they did it,” Vladimir Putin told students Russians when he first commented on the crash. “In any case it is a crime,” he added.
Ukraine, which has called for an international investigation, neither confirmed nor denied shooting down the plane, but appeared to cast doubt on whether any prisoners were on board. kyiv confirmed that a prisoner exchange was to take place, but said it had not been informed that the prisoners were to be flown to the border as had been done previously.