Russia accuses Ukraine of terrorism as plane carrying Ukrainian PoWs shot down
Russia has accused Ukraine of shooting down a military transport plane that was headed to a prisoner exchange carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The Russian defence ministry condemned the attack as a barbaric act of terrorism on the part of Ukraine. The statement said: “The Ukrainian leadership was well aware that, in accordance with established practice, Ukrainian servicemen would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield today to be exchanged.”
“According to an earlier agreement, this event was to take place in the afternoon at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border. By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership has showed its true face. It disregarded the lives of its own citizens.”
As yet, there has been no comment from the Ukrainian government. Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, told Reuters: “Comments will come a little later. Time is needed to clarify all the data.”
A report from the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper claiming that Ukrainian armed forces had shot down the plane was withdrawn. The reports cited information for Ukrainian military personnel who said that a plane was carrying S-300 missiles intended for an attack on the nearby Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Prisoner swaps are not uncommon in this conflict; there have been 49 so far. Just this month, Ukraine returned 248 Russian soldiers in return for According to the Russian defence ministry, there were also nine Russians on the aircraft, six service crew and three soldiers.
Verified videos show the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft eploding on contact with the ground in the Belgorod region’s Korochansky district, northeast of the city of Belgorod. Belgorod is around 40km north of the Ukrainian border and around 100km from the Ukrainina city of Kharkiv.
Russian President Vlamidir Putin is yet to comment, but the Russian elite has been vocal. Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the lower house of Russian parliament and former Putin aide said: “They (Ukraine) shot down their own soldiers in mid-air. Their mothers, wives and children were waiting for them. They took a decision and shot down our defenceless pilots on a military transport plane, who were carrying out a humanitarian mission, with American and German rockets.”
He said the Russian parliament would be drafting a letter specifically for US Congress and the German Bundestag, “So that their lawmakers at last can see clearly who they are financing, who they are helping.”
Not denying that Ukraine had shot down the plane, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, said that Russia had lied about the plane’s cargo, saying it contained PoWs to “save face”.
The city and wider region of Belgorod has come under heavy fire from Ukraine recently. In December, Ukrainian shelling of the city centre killed 25 people, while Russian strikes on Kharkhiv this week have killed 18 people.
It is too early to know exactly what happened to this aircraft. If it turns out that Ukraine shot down it down, there will be questions to answer. It, and so much other death and destruction, wouldn’t have happened if Putin and the Russians hadn’t launched their barbaric invasion in the first place.
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