Putin accuses Ukraine of shooting down the plane with prisoners of war

2024-01-26 21:10:14, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Friday to make public the findings of Moscow's investigation into the downing of a plane it claims was shot down by Kiev forces, despite being told there were Ukrainian prisoners of war.

This is the first time Putin has spoken about the downed plane on Wednesday. He repeated Russian officials' words that "everything was planned" for the prisoner exchange on the day the military transport plane, the IL-76, crashed in a rural area of ??Russia's Belgorod region with 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board.

"Knowing that [prisoners of war were on board], they attacked this plane. I don't know if they did it by mistake or on purpose," Putin said about Ukraine during a meeting with students.

Authorities in the Belgorod region, which straddles the border with Ukraine, said 74 people on board, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen, were killed when the plane crashed.

Putin did not provide any evidence to support claims that Ukraine is guilty.

Ukrainian officials have not said whether their military shot down the plane, but have called for an international investigation.

Independent verification of Moscow's claims has been impossible.

Ukrainian officials confirmed that a prisoner exchange was expected to take place on Wednesday, but said it had been cancelled. They cast doubt on whether the prisoners of war were on the IL-76 plane.

They also hinted that the plane may have posed a danger. They said Moscow had not asked for the airspace to be secured for any specific time, which it has done during prisoner exchanges in the past.

The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, described Moscow's claims as "big Russian propaganda".

Putin said Russian investigators have found the plane's black box and will demand that the data be made public.

“There are black boxes, everything will accumulate and show up. I will ask the investigative commission to make known, as much as possible, all the circumstances of this crime - so that people in Ukraine know what really happened," Putin said.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has requested an international investigation into this case./ REL