Ukrainian authorities are investigating whether 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be exchanged for Russian captives in the hands of Ukraine were on board the military transport plane that crashed this Wednesday in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, as Moscow claims.
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“At the moment,” declared the Ukrainian Ombudsman, Dmitro Lubinets, “I am trying to establish the details of the incident and analyzing the information received.”. Lubinets asked the media “not to spread unreliable information” made public by Russia.
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The representative of Ukrainian military intelligence Andri Yusov has also stated that this structure of the kyiv Ministry of Defense is investigating what happened in that Russian region bordering Ukraine.
Speaking to the Ukrainian-language service of Radio Freedom, Yusov also confirmed that This Wednesday he had planned a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.
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The Russian Ministry of Defense has accused the Ukrainian Army of shooting down the aircraft, an Il-76 military transport plane, in a “terrorist act” that was allegedly carried out with two missiles from the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, bordering Russia.
Moscow claims that Ukraine shot down the plane “with the aim of accusing Russia” of the death of the Ukrainian prisoners.
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According to the Russian version, three Russian soldiers and six crew members were traveling on the plane, in addition to the 65 Ukrainian prisoners.
At first, unofficial Ukrainian sources claimed that the crashed plane was carrying Russian missiles.
EFE
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