Does FSB intervene shortly before the start?
Ukraine: High-ranking military officials should sit in crashed Il-76
January 25, 2024, 7:46 p.m
A Russian army plane crashes in the border region of Belgorod. Moscow claims that dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board. The Ukrainian secret service HUR now reports that the plane was actually reserved for important Russian officials.
According to Ukrainian sources, high-ranking Russian military and officials were originally supposed to be on board the transport plane that crashed on Wednesday in the Russian border region of Belogorod. The spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, Andriy Yusov, told the US-funded broadcaster Radio Liberty.
Accordingly, the passengers were instructed “at the last moment” by the Russian domestic secret service FSB to use other transport options. This information became known to the HUR after the plane crashed, said Yusov.
The Il-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry then claimed that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the plane, as a prisoner exchange was planned that day. The HUR did not confirm whether there were prisoners of war on the plane. The service has not yet made a statement about the cause of the crash.
“We know from intelligence sources that as of yesterday only five bodies had been brought to the Belgorod morgue,” Yusov said. This number corresponds to the number of crew members of an Il-76. No other human remains can be seen in videos from the crash site. After the crash, the FSB and the Russian military did not allow rescue workers to inspect the crash site according to protocol, Yusov said.
According to Yusov, the names of the high-ranking officials and military officers who were supposed to be on board are known and will be made public soon, as Ukraine intends to make its findings available to international investigators.