In a video address late on Wednesday evening, the 24th of January, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian POWs, the feelings of their relatives and the emotions of the public” following the crash of an Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region, where Moscow claims 65 Ukrainian POWs were held, and called for an international inquiry into the incident, reports the BBC.
Zelenskiy, who has now cancelled a planned regional trip to mark his birthday on Thursday, stressed that “all the facts must be established”.
The BBC says it is not possible to independently verify information about the people on board the downed plane, but Ukraine’s military intelligence service says Russia is responsible for “ensuring the safety of our defenders in accordance with the agreements reached”, the BBC cites the agency.
The intelligence service has pointed to a departure from previous cases,
when they were informed that airspace security had to be ensured, suggesting that Russia deliberately acted to endanger the lives and safety of POWs.
Ukraine and Russia have participated in several prisoner exchanges since the beginning of the war.
Prior to the planned prisoner exchange, Ukrainian officials reported that the captured Russian soldiers had been safely transferred to the agreed location.
The Ukrainian POW monitoring body warned of active Russian information operations aimed at destabilising Ukrainian society.
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliament, Dmitry Lubinets, urged to trust only official sources and warned against provocation, promising to provide more detailed information later.
In a Telegram message, Ukrainian military intelligence said that Russia’s accusations about the crash of the Il-76 military transport plane could be “a planned action to destabilise the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our country”.
The Agency also noted that it had no reliable information on who was on board the downed Russian military transport aircraft.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday on the crash of the Russian Il-76 transport plane.
BNN reported that Russia accuses Ukraine of shooting down the Il-76, which was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs and nine Russian personnel, with no survivors on board, and claims that the flight was for a prisoner exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defence also claims that the Ukrainian air force fired two anti-aircraft missiles from the Liptsi area, south of the Ukrainian border, resulting in the downing of the aircraft.
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