(VitalNews.org) – Amidst the Russia-Ukraine war, Russian officials have recently accused Ukraine of shooting down one of their military transport planes. They claim that this incident killed 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and nine others.
The military transport plane was an Il-76 and it was shot down by Ukraine’s military on Wednesday as it was traveling from Moscow to Belgorod. Belgorod is close to the border with Ukraine and so it’s been a constant target in recent weeks by the Ukrainian military. This type of plane is used to carry cargo, airlift troops, and carry military equipment and weapons.
“On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members and three escorts,” the Defense Ministry was quoted as saying.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on his Telegram account saying, “The plane fell in a field near a populated area. Everyone on board died.”
Russian officials claim that the plane was targeted and hit with three missiles, which were made by either the United States or Germany. Russian officials and the Defense Ministry said that the attack was deliberately planned to target the prisoner exchange that was in process.
However, despite this, Ukraine said that they had “no reliable or comprehensive information” on who or how many people were on the plane. Andriy Yusov, who is a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukraine Ministry of Defense, did say that they confirmed a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, which was being prepared for Wednesday.
Previously before this attack, Russia had accused Ukraine of performing other attacks like the one that occurred in December, which killed 25 people. There was also an attack last week on Russia that killed 27 people, although Ukraine is denying their involvement in that one.
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