Ukrainian government officials say Russia has not provided credible evidence to support claims that its forces shot down a plane carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to reports.
The Ukrainian government agency that brokers the prisoner exchange said the Kremlin had “with considerable delay” provided a list of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war late Friday.
Russia claims the prisoner was aboard a military transport plane, destined to be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, when the plane was shot down on Wednesday, according to reports.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a missile fired from across the border in Ukraine brought down the plane near the Russian city of Belgorod.
Local authorities said on Wednesday that all 74 people on board the plane, including six crew members and three Russian soldiers, died in the crash.
“We currently have no evidence that there may be many people on the plane,” Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said. “Russian propaganda claims that an IL-76 plane was transporting 65 Ukrainian military prisoners (towards) a prisoner exchange continue to raise many questions.”
The Russian military released this still from a video it said showed Ukrainian prisoners of war being loaded onto a military transport plane that was later shot down by Ukrainian forces. AP
He added that the relatives of the dead Ukrainian soldiers could not identify their loved ones from the photos of the crash site provided by the Russian military.
On Friday, Ukrainian officials said security services prevented several senior Russian officials from boarding the flight.
Social media users in the region near Belgorod posted a video of the plane falling from the sky and a huge fireball erupting as it hit the ground in the countryside.
Russia says that Ukraine shot down its POWS plane en route to Ukraine – a claim that Ukraine denies. AP
Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces shot down any Russian transport aircraft on Wednesday. Russian claims that the crash killed Ukrainian prisoners of war could not be independently verified.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said that the prisoner exchange would take place but said that it had been called off on Wednesday.
They said the Russian military did not request any airspace to be reserved for the exchange.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international investigation into the crash, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the Kremlin would make its findings public.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
