(Reuters) – Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of shooting down a military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange.
Ukraine has yet to comment on what happened. Here’s a summary of what we know so far.
WHERE DID THE CRASH OCCUR?
The crash took place just northeast of Belgorod in western Russia, close to the border with Ukraine. Belgorod region has been the target of frequent cross-border attacks by Ukraine but this, if the details are confirmed, would be the deadliest single incident of its kind in the almost two-year-old war to take place inside Russia’s internationally recognised territory.
WHO WAS ONBOARD THE PLANE?
The aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-76, a large military transport plane designed to carry troops, cargo or weapons. Russia’s defence ministry said that beside the 65 Ukrainian POWs there were six Russian crew members and three Russian soldiers on board. The plane crashed in a huge fireball and the ministry and the local governor said everyone on board had died.
WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH?
Russia’s defence ministry accused the “Kyiv regime” of shooting it down, saying Russian radar had detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. Earlier, Russian lawmaker and former general Andrei Kartapolov had spoken of three missiles and said they were either U.S. Patriots or German-made IRIS-Ts. He said investigators would determine exactly what kind of missiles were used when they recovered fragments from the crash site.
WHAT WAS THE PRISONER EXCHANGE THAT WAS PLANNED?
Russia’s defence ministry said an exchange had been due to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the border between Russia and Ukraine. It said the plane that was shot down had been flying from the Chkalovsky airbase near Moscow to Belgorod, in which case it would have been in the final stage of its flight.
Lawmaker Kartapolov said it had not been escorted by Russian fighter planes because the flight had been agreed with the Ukrainians. He said a second Il-76 transport plane carrying around 80 more Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange had managed to turn around.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov told the Radio Svoboda outlet that a prisoner exchange had been planned for Wednesday, adding: “It’s not taking place at the moment.”
Russia and Ukraine have carried out several big prisoner swaps in the course of the war.
Russian state TV journalist Margarita Simonyan published what she said was a list of the 65 names of the Ukrainian POWs on the plane. Reuters could not independently confirm it.
WHAT IS UKRAINE SAYING?
Ukraine’s defence ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, told Reuters: “Comments will come a little later. Time is needed to clarify all the data.”
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Alexandra Hudson)
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