Belgorod: Ukraine and Russia raise accusations after plane crash

After the crash of a Russian plane, the governments in Moscow and Kiev made accusations against each other on Wednesday. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ukraine shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war as part of a swap. All 74 people on board died in the crash in the border region of Belgorod. It was a “barbaric act of terrorism”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj demanded a full investigation into the incident in the evening. In his evening video speech, he accused the government in Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war.”

According to a report by broadcaster RBK Ukraine, Zelensky canceled a planned trip and events for his birthday because of the incident. Ukrainian military intelligence said on Telegram that there was no reliable information about the passengers. In contrast to previous exchanges, Ukraine was not asked to secure its airspace. This may be a planned action. In the evening, Ukrainian military intelligence said that “a prisoner exchange was supposed to have taken place today, but it did not take place.” Kiev did not confirm the version from Moscow that the Ukrainian prisoners were on board the crashed Russian plane and are now dead.

A video of the crash was shown on the short message service Telegram on a channel associated with the Russian security services. In the footage verified by the Reuters news agency, a large aircraft can be seen falling from the sky near the village of Jablonowo and exploding into a large fireball. A list of names of passengers believed to be 65 Ukrainian soldiers was published in Russian state media. There are also said to have been six crew members and three security guards in the Ilyushin Il-76 machine.

Russia sees ties to Germany in crash

Russian MPs also drew connections to Germany during a debate about the crash. Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced a message to the US Congress and the Bundestag “so that their deputies can finally see clearly who they are funding and who they are helping.” Ukraine shot down its own soldiers “with American and German missiles.” For his part, MP Andrei Kartapolov, who is connected to the Russian Defense Ministry, said that the plane was shot down by three US- or German-made missiles.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a request had been made for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Ukraine should then explain how the crash occurred. It was a targeted criminal act by Ukraine. There was initially no statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. The country’s military intelligence further explained on Telegram that it may have been a planned action “to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our state.”