Kiev’s forces knowingly downed a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war that crashed on Wednesday, killing all on board, in order to pin the attack on Moscow, the Defense Ministry has said, adding that Kiev had once again shown its “true colors”.

In a statement following the incident, the ministry revealed that a Russian IL-76 cargo plane had crashed in Belgorod Region, claiming the lives of 65 Ukrainian POWs, as well as six crew members and three Russian soldiers.

The Defense Ministry claimed that the “Kiev regime committed a terrorist act” by targeting the plane, which was transporting POWs for a further prisoner exchange, from the Chkalovsky military airbase near Moscow to Belgorod.

Russian officials stated that the plane had been hit at 11:15am local time by Ukrainian air defense forces stationed in Kharkov Region, adding that the military had registered the launch of two missiles.

Confirming that everyone aboard was killed in the attack, the ministry said that the Ukrainian leadership was well aware of the flight and its mission. It noted that Moscow and Kiev had agreed to conduct a prisoner exchange later on Wednesday near the Russian border village of Kolotilovka in Belgorod Region.

Nevertheless, the Nazi Kiev regime [carried out this attack] in a bid to accuse Russia of killing members of the Ukrainian military. By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true face, disregarding the lives of its citizens.

Russian officials stated earlier that the attack used either US-made or German air defense systems, with State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin urging Kiev’s Western backers to finally realize that they are backing a “Nazi regime.”

Russian MP Andrey Kartapolov said a second plane had been carrying another 80 captured Ukrainian troops, which was swiftly diverted from the danger zone after the first aircraft was attacked.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has so far declined to comment on the incident, saying only that it was looking into the matter. However, Andrey Yusov, a spokesman for Kiev’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR), confirmed that Russia and Ukraine were indeed scheduled to carry out a prisoner exchange on Wednesday, adding that it had since been canceled.

Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda initially reported, citing unnamed defense officials in Kiev, that the IL-76 was destroyed by the country’s military. Later, however, it removed the mention of Kiev’s role in the attack.

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

Print Share Comment Cite Upload Translate Updates

APA

RT | radiofree.asia (2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00) » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says. Retrieved from https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/.

MLA

" » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says." RT | radiofree.asia - Wednesday January 24, 2024, https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/

HARVARD

RT | radiofree.asia Wednesday January 24, 2024 » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says., viewed 2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00,<https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/>

VANCOUVER

RT | radiofree.asia - » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says. [Internet]. [Accessed 2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00]. Available from: https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/

CHICAGO

" » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says." RT | radiofree.asia - Accessed 2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00. https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/

IEEE

" » Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says." RT | radiofree.asia [Online]. Available: https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/. [Accessed: 2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00]

rf:citation

» Belgorod Plane Attack: Kiev Deliberately Shot Down Plane Carrying Its POWs, Moscow Says | RT | radiofree.asia | https://radiofree.asia/2024/01/24/belgorod-plane-attack-kiev-deliberately-shot-down-plane-carrying-its-pows-moscow-says/ | 2024-05-07T01:29:16+00:00

To access this feature and upload your own media, you must Login or create an account.

Visual Text

Use this space to make a translated version of this post.

Add an image

Choose a Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Basque Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Cambodian Chinese (Mandarin) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Fiji Finnish French Georgian German Greek Gujarati Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Korean Latin Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Mongolian Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Quechua Romanian Russian Samoan Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Tatar Telugu Thai Tibetan Tonga Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Welsh Xhosa