Video of the crash posted on social media showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a massive ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.
In addition to the 65 POWs, the Il-76 transport carried a crew of six and three other passengers, the Russian military said. According to the statement, Russian radar registered the launch of two missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region that borders the Belgorod region. The ministry did not provide evidence for its claim.
Firefighters, ambulances and police rushed to the site in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, state news agency Tass reported, citing a local emergency services official.
The Russian military said the prisoners of the war were being flown to the region for a prisoner swap when the plane was downed at 11:15 am local time. Russian officials and lawmakers expressed outrage and questioned whether there should be further prisoner swaps. The most recent one, brokered by the UAE, took place this month and was the biggest to date, with 230 Ukrainian POWs returning home and 248 Russians released. It was the first in almost five months and 49th since the war began.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after the downing of a Russian plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers.
At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Lavrov said Moscow requested a meeting for 3 pm on Wednesday. But obviously, the meeting has not been scheduled accordingly, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lavrov said a Russian IL-76 transport aircraft was downed with 65 captured Ukrainian military servicemen on board together with three Russian officers and six crew members. All people on board the plane died as a result of what he said was a terrorist attack by Ukraine.
Lavrov said an air defence missile launched by Ukraine from the Kharkiv region downed the plane in the Belgorod region. The IL-76 was carrying the 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers from Moscow to Belgorod for a prisoner-of-war swap that had been agreed on between Moscow and Kiev.
Investigators searching the site where a Russian military transport plane crashed in a border region near Ukraine reportedly have found the plane’s flight recorders, a day after Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting down the aircraft and Ukraine’s president demanded an international investigation.
The Il-76 fell from the sky and crashed in a huge ball of flame in a rural area of Russia on Wednesday, killing all 74 people on board, Russian authorities said, as the war nears its two-year mark.
Russian officials accused Kyiv of shooting down the plane with two missiles, claiming that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board as they headed for a prisoner swap. They offered no evidence for their claim.
Ukrainian authorities confirmed a prisoner exchange was due to happen Wednesday, and that it was called off, but said they had no information about who was on the plane.
Kyiv officials gave no direct response to the Russian claim that Ukraine struck with plane with a missile, though they noted that Russian aircraft were legitimate targets and that Moscow had requested no safe passage in the context of the prisoner swap. They cautioned against spreading unverified reports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday repeated the allegation that Ukraine had downed the plane, describing it as “a totally monstrous act”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn’t directly address Moscow’s allegation but said Ukraine would push for an international investigation.
“It is necessary to establish all the facts, as much as possible, considering that the plane crash occurred on Russian territory — beyond our control,” he said in his nightly video address late Wednesday.
“It’s obvious Russians are playing with lives of Ukrainian POWs, with the feelings of their relatives and the emotions of our society,” Zelenskyy said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which was expected to take place on Thursday afternoon in New York.
The discovery of the plane’s flight recorders was reported by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, citing emergency services.
However, there was little hope that the true circumstances of the crash and the Russian allegations would be clarified by the investigation.
Deadly incidents followed by claims and counterclaims are a feature of the war, used as ammunition to tarnish reputations and swing public opinion.
The 1,500-km (930-mile) front line has been largely static amid a second winter of fighting. As both sides seek to replenish their weapons stockpiles, the war recently has focused on long-range strikes.