MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the military plane that crashed in the Belgorod region near Ukraine on Wednesday was shot down, either intentionally or by mistake, by Ukrainian air defenses using American or French missiles.
Russia says this Ilyushin Il-76 was carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian soldiers who were to be handed over to Kyiv as part of a prisoner exchange.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied shooting down the plane. She disputes the Russian version on the circumstances of the plane’s crash and the status of the passengers.
Vladimir Putin declared that the conclusions of the Russian investigation would be published within two or three days but that, according to the first elements collected, the missiles which shot down the aircraft were American or French.
(Written by Maxim Rodionov, French version Bertrand Boucey, edited by Sophie Louet)
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