On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange. The Russian defence ministry reported that the plane had been shot down near the Russian city of Belgorod, and a total of 74 people had been killed, including six Russian crew members and three Russian soldiers.
The ministry stated that the Ukrainian leadership had been aware of the planned prisoner exchange and called the shooting down of the plane a terrorist act. Russia’s foreign ministry also condemned the incident as a barbaric act.
A video posted on the Telegram messaging app by Russian security-linked channel Baza showed a large aircraft falling to the ground and exploding in a fireball. Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov confirmed that the prisoner exchange had been planned for that day.
The Ukraine defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda initially reported that the plane was shot down due to it carrying S-300 missiles, but later retracted the statement.
Russian lawmaker and retired general Andrei Kartapolov claimed in a TV interview that the plane had been shot down deliberately to sabotage the prisoner exchange and that the Russian defence ministry had detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles at the time of the incident.
If confirmed, this would be the deadliest incident of its kind within Russia’s internationally recognized borders during the ongoing war. Russian state media published a list of the names and birth dates of the 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers aboard the downed plane.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod region, stated that all 74 people on board had been killed and that investigators and emergency workers were already at the scene. The region has previously been under attack from Ukraine, including a missile strike in December that killed 25 people.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, announced the chamber would prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the German parliament, criticizing Ukraine for shooting down the plane. The Kremlin said it was looking into the situation.