MOSCOW, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it had found the two black boxes from the military transport plane that Moscow accuses Ukraine of shooting down, killing all 74 passengers on board, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. currently being transferred for a prisoner exchange.
Kyiv has neither confirmed its responsibility for the accident nor the presence of Ukrainian prisoners on board, calling into question part of Russia’s claims.
Ukraine wants an international investigation, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Loubinets said on television Thursday, adding that he would send letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“Based on my information, I cannot say that there were actually prisoners of war. We saw no sign that there were such a large number of people on board,” he added.
The aircraft, an Ilyushin II-76, crashed on Wednesday near the Russian town of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border. Moscow denounced a “barbaric act of terrorism”.
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet this Thursday at 5:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. GMT) at the request of Russia, which seeks to establish “the reasons for this Ukrainian criminal act”, in the words used by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war as well as six Russian crew members and three Russian soldiers. A prisoner exchange was to take place Wednesday afternoon at a border crossing, he added.
According to the ministry, Ukraine knew that a transport plane with prisoners was expected at Belgorod airport. Russian radars detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles at the time of the crash, he said.
In his daily video message broadcast Wednesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said additional information was needed to shed light on the event.
“It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society,” he commented.
Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) confirmed that an exchange was to take place but added that it had not been informed of how these detainees would be transferred to the exchange location. Unlike other previous exchanges, Ukraine was not asked to ensure the security of the airspace around Belgorod, he said.
“Based on this, it may be that this is a planned and deliberate act by Russia to destabilize Ukraine and weaken international support for our state,” the GUR said in a statement on Telegram.
A LIST PUBLISHED BY RUSSIAN MEDIA
The Ukrainian army stressed, without confirming having shot down the Ilyushin, that it would continue to destroy Russian transport planes carrying missiles intended to strike Ukraine.
She said she had noted an increase in the number of military transport planes landing in Belgorod, linking it to recent missile strikes on Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities.
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself and destroy the air attack capabilities of the aggressors,” said Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.
Ukrainian military intelligence also clarified that Ukraine respected the terms of the planned prisoner exchange and transferred Russian prisoners to the agreed location.
“Landing a transport plane in a 30 km combat zone cannot be safe and must in any case be the subject of discussions between the two parties,” he said, adding that he had no reliable information regarding aircraft passengers.
Russian state media, for their part, published a list of 65 names of captured Ukrainian soldiers believed to be on board, with their dates of birth. According to some Ukrainian media, names of prisoners who have already been exchanged appear on this list.
A video posted on Telegram messaging by the Baza account, linked to Russian security services, and authenticated by Reuters, shows a large plane plunging to the ground near the village of Yablonovo, in the Belgorod region, and exploding into a huge ball of fire.
If the death toll were confirmed, it would be the deadliest incident to occur within Russia’s internationally recognized borders since the start of the offensive launched by Moscow in Ukraine in February 2022.
Andrei Kartapolov, a Duma deputy and former Russian army general, said the plane was shot down using three American or German-designed missiles and was not escorted by fighter jets because the flight had been agreed with Ukraine.
The MP told the Interfax agency on Thursday morning that prisoner exchanges would continue and that Russia would talk “even with the devil” to bring back its captured soldiers.
The Belgorod region has been the regular target of attacks by Ukraine in recent months, including a missile strike that killed 25 people in December. (Moscow Bureau, with Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk and David Brunnstrom and Pseladakis in Washington; Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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