By Laura Gozzi & Paul KirbyBBC News24 January 2024, 09:27 GMTUpdated 59 minutes agoVideo caption, The BBC has verified this video showing the moment a Russian aircraft crashed in the Belgorod regionA military transport plane, the Russian Ilyushin-76, has crashed in the southern Belgorod region near Ukraine, with 65 captured Ukrainian military on board, en route for a prisoner exchange. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed this information. Ukrainian military intelligence later accused Russia of endangering the lives of the prisoners of war, stating that they had not been informed to ensure safe airspace over Belgorod. The Ukrainian statement implied that it shot the plane down. Ria Novosti news agency reported that six crew members and three other individuals were also on the plane when it went down, leading to an explosion and fireball near the village of Yablonovo, 70km (44 miles) northeast of Belgorod, at around 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT). Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor in Russia’s Belgorod region, confirmed that all on board had perished in the crash. The Ukrainian general staff suggested that the plane was transporting missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defense systems, without mentioning the prisoners of war. While the details about the passengers cannot be independently verified, Ukraine’s military intelligence appeared to acknowledge that Ukrainian captive soldiers may have been on board. According to the Ukrainian military, it was Russia’s responsibility to ensure the safety of their soldiers under the agreements reached, but they had not been informed to safeguard the airspace at the defined time, as on numerous previous occasions, indicating Russia’s deliberate actions aimed at putting the lives and safety of the PoWs under threat. Russian and Ukrainian officials had planned a prisoner exchange, with Russia’s defence ministry stating that a military transport plane had taken off from Chkalovsky air base north-east of Moscow en route to Belgorod. The Ukrainian government body overseeing prisoners of war warned about Russia’s active special information operations against Ukraine, aiming to destabilize Ukrainian society. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, urged Ukrainians to trust only official sources and not be misled by provocations. Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, alleged that there had been a second plane in the air transporting 80 Ukrainian prisoners, but that plane had changed course, indicating that there would be no more prisoner exchanges. Ukraine and Russia have engaged in numerous prisoner exchanges since the start of the conflict. However, more than 8,000 Ukrainians, both civilian and military, are still held by Russia, with tens of thousands of others missing. The crash led to a nationwide air raid alert in Ukraine. Belgorod, located approximately 25 miles (40km) north of the border with Ukraine, has experienced numerous casualties from air strikes and drones since the war in Ukraine began. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has highlighted the shortage of ammunition for Ukrainian forces, while Russia has used over 600 missiles and more than 1,000 drones in the past two months. Meanwhile, Ukraine relies mostly on drones in its fight, with a recent drone attack causing an explosion at a major gas export terminal near the city of St Petersburg.
