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Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said on January 24 that it does not have “reliable and comprehensive information” on who was on board a military plane that crashed in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, killing everyone on board.
The Intelligence Directorate confirmed that a prisoner exchange was to take place on January 24 and that Ukraine fulfilled all the arrangements to prepare for the exchange.
“Russian prisoners of war were delivered in time to the conditional exchange point where they were safe,” it said on Facebook.
“The safety of our defenders, according to the arrangements, had to be ensured by the Russian side,” it said.
The message added that Ukraine was not notified about the need to ensure the safety of the airspace in the area of Belgorod city within a specified period of time as has been repeatedly done in the past.
Ukraine also was not informed about the number of vehicles, routes, and forms of delivery of prisoners. but it is aware that prisoners are transported by air, rail, and car.
Russian officials said earlier that the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“A transport plane crashed in the Korochansky district. It fell in a field near a populated area. Everyone on board died,” regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram.
Earlier, the Defense Ministry said 65 “captured Ukrainian Army servicemen” were on board the plane and being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange. In addition, it said, six crew members and three escorts were on the flight, which crashed at around 11 a.m. local time.
Video on social media showed an aircraft, which appears to be a Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane, spiraling to the ground, followed by a loud bang and explosion that sent a ball of smoke and flames skyward.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the plane crash, saying he was still gathering information on the incident.
However, Russian lawmaker and retired General Andrei Kartapolov, speaking in a television interview, accused Ukraine of shooting the plane down, while the media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing what it called sources in the armed forces of Ukraine, wrote that Kyiv’s military had indicated the crash was “their work,” adding that the plane was carrying missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defense system. It later deleted the post.
Moscow and Kyiv have held several prisoner swaps since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian Defense Ministry had earlier reported that a drone had been shot down in the region, but gave no further details.