Russia: What we know about the crash of a military plane

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 on Wednesday evening. In his evening video speech, he accused the government in Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war.”

According to the Kremlin, Russia sees a need for further clarification after the crash of its Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft in the border region of Belgorod. “It has not yet been fully clarified what happened; investigators only began examining the remains of the plane yesterday,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to Russian agencies. He initially did not comment on Wednesday when the plane crashed in the Belgorod region. It was confirmed in Ukraine that an exchange had been planned for that day. However, Kiev has not commented on prisoners on board the plane.

What is considered safe

Basically, all that is clear so far is that a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashed in the border region of Belgorod around 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday. Russian authorities have also released the names of the killed pilot and five other crew members. “This is an irreparable loss for everyone. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of the heroes,” the authorities in the Orenburg region said on Thursday. One from the verification team star and RTL found to be genuine video shows the crash. The crash site is near Jablonovo, almost 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Cause of military plane crash in Russia

At the end of the crash video you can see a mushroom of smoke in the air. This could indicate a rocket impact, but does not rule out another cause. This evidence suggests that there was an explosion in the air. A technical or human error is therefore unlikely. Russia accuses Ukraine of shooting down the plane. The leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian intelligence indirectly and very vaguely admitted that the country’s armed forces could have been involved in the downing of the plane.

Ukraine is calling for an international investigation into the crash of the plane, which Moscow says was carrying prisoners of war and was shot down by Ukraine. He will therefore contact the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on state television. The Ukrainian secret service SBU has already launched an investigation: The SBU has “launched a criminal investigation into the shooting down of an IL-76 aircraft of the Russian Air Force in the Belgorod region,” the secret service said in a statement on Thursday.

Who or what was on board?

According to Russia, in addition to the crew, three guards and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on the way to a prisoner exchange. Ukraine left and assumes that the plane had ammunition on board. What speaks against Russia’s claim is that so far only a few bodies have been found at the crash site – with more than 70 dead, that seems too small a number.

Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan published 65 prisoners who were allegedly on board the Il-76. The authenticity of the list has not been confirmed by other sources. According to the Russian exile media “Meduza”, the list also includes 52 names of prisoners of war – including one who was exchanged three weeks before the crash. This information was later corrected on “Wartears.org” according to “Meduza”.

Was Ukraine informed about possible prisoner transport?

The Ukrainian military intelligence service GRU was warned 15 minutes before the transport plane entered the affected border area, said the chairman of the Defense Committee in the Duma, Andrei Kartapolov. The GRU also confirmed to the Russian side that it had received the information about the plane that was en route to a prisoner exchange, added the retired general with close ties to the Defense Ministry.

The GRU, on the other hand, stated that it had not been informed how Russia would bring the prisoners to the transfer point, nor had it been asked to ensure the security of the airspace, as would otherwise be the case during a prisoner exchange.

If there were any Ukrainian prisoners of war on board and the Ukrainian authorities had known about it, the military would probably not have fired on the plane under any circumstances. If there were no prisoners of war on board or if Ukraine was not informed about it, the Russian military machine would have been a legitimate target in the war.

Conclusion

At this point in time (Thursday, 1:20 p.m.) there are many indications that the Russian plane was shot down – probably by Ukraine. There were probably no prisoners of war on board, otherwise more bodies or body parts would have been found by now. But it is still far too early to make a final judgment.

Further sources: DPA, , , , , .