A big Russian army transport aircraft crashed on Wednesday within the Belgorod area close to the border with Ukraine killing everybody on board, the Russian Defense Ministry stated in an announcement, accusing Ukraine of capturing down the aircraft with missiles.
The Defense Ministry stated that the aircraft had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of struggle who have been being transferred to the area from a army airport close to Moscow to be exchanged for Russian service personnel. It accused Ukrainian forces of launching two missiles from the close by Kharkiv area of Ukraine that struck the plane. The aircraft was additionally carrying six crew members and three different people, the ministry stated.
The Russian claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Officials in Kyiv didn’t remark immediately on Moscow’s accusations that Ukraine shot down the aircraft however the army’s common workers headquarters issued an announcement Wednesday afternoon asserting a proper to focus on Russian army transport airplanes within the border area.
The assertion, posted on the army command’s Facebook web page, didn’t deny capturing down the aircraft. It stated that repeated Russian missile strikes on town of Kharkiv and the encompassing area had up to now week killed 16 folks and wounded one other 78 folks and that Ukraine had responded by focusing on missile launch websites and the logistics for missile deliveries.
“The armed forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy delivery vehicles and control the airspace to eliminate the terrorist threat,” the assertion stated.
The Belgorod area of Russia has an extended border with Ukraine. Over the previous few weeks, it has been the scene of frequent Ukrainian assaults, together with a missile bombardment in December. It was additionally the staging floor for Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and for additional Russian strikes in opposition to Ukrainian territory throughout the struggle.
The governor of the Belgorod area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, stated in an announcement on social media that the aircraft had crashed in a area close to a settlement within the Korochansky district. He stated that emergency companies have been on the website and have been investigating.
A video posted to Telegram and verified by The Times confirmed a big aircraft crashing and exploding in Yablonovo, a city within the Korochansky district. Tass, a Russian state news company, revealed a video of the scene of the crash displaying particles littering a snowy area.
In its assertion, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Ukraine’s management was “well aware that, in accordance with established practice, Ukrainian servicemen were to be transported by military transport aircraft to Belgorod airfield today for exchange.”
“According to an earlier agreement, the event was to take place in the afternoon” at a checkpoint on the Russia-Ukraine border, the assertion added.
The Ukrainian General Staff didn’t handle whether or not prisoners of struggle have been on the aircraft. Earlier Wednesday, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s army intelligence company, stated in an interview with Radio Liberty that an change “planned for today is currently not taking place,” with out elaborating.
The aircraft, an Il-76, was designed many years in the past within the Soviet Union to carry out army duties comparable to airlifting troops, cargo and weapons.
Former Ukrainian prisoners who have been launched in exchanges stated that they’d been transported on that mannequin of airplane, stated Olha Reshetylova, a coordinator for Media Initiative for Human Rights, a bunch that investigates potential Russian struggle crimes in opposition to prisoners of struggle. In an interview, she referred to as for an investigation into the crash however stated that these efforts could be “complicated by the fact that the crime took place on the territory” of Russia.
One former Ukrainian prisoner of struggle, Maksym Kolesnikov, confirmed in a social media put up that prisoners have been transported on army cargo planes however questioned the Russian assertion that solely three guards escorted 65 prisoners. On his flight, he stated, about 20 guards flew with 50 prisoners.
Andrei V. Kartapolov, a Russian lawmaker and retired common, stated at a session of the State Duma, the decrease home of Parliament, that the Il-76 had been shot down by three Ukrainian missiles. He didn’t present any proof for his declare, and it couldn’t be independently verified.
Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging prisoners because the begin of the struggle via offers brokered by a third-party, comparable to Turkey or the United Arab Emirates. Those offers have been very difficult, with the perimeters meticulously negotiating each element.
In early January, after an extended pause in exchanges — following the discharge in Turkey of 5 former commanders of Ukraine’s garrison within the Azovstal metal plant, which angered Moscow — Russia and Ukraine performed the most important swap of prisoners because the begin of the struggle.
Prisoner exchanges are politically delicate in Ukraine and the federal government of President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that it goes to nice lengths to barter for releases. Families, a few of whom have waited for months with little details about family members in captivity, have held road protests in Kyiv, the capital. The Ukrainian authorities sometimes don’t launch, even to households, the names of these to be launched earlier than exchanges.
The crash comes because the preventing alongside the entrance line in southeastern Ukraine has slowed down right into a vicious however largely stationary battle in trenches.
Military help for Ukraine has been solid unsure because the U.S. Congress delays a vote on assist. Frontline commanders have stated that artillery ammunition is operating low, and the nation is getting ready for a mobilization that can most certainly show unpopular domestically.
With prospects for advances on the bottom unsure, Ukraine has turned to long-range strikes with drones and sabotage operations inside Russia that concentrate on army and gasoline infrastructure. The techniques have included sabotage and commando raids close to the border, together with within the Belgorod area.
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com