Kyiv appealed to Moscow with a request to hand over the bodies of prisoners killed in a terrorist attack, as a result of which an Il-76 military transport plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) crashed in the Belgorod region. This was reported on Thursday, February 1, by the Ukrayinska Pravda publication with reference to Andrey Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine.
“Ukraine has appealed and continues to appeal regarding the transfer (to Russia – Ed.) of the bodies,” the publication quotes Yusov.
According to him, Russia allegedly has not yet provided an answer. The Russian side did not officially confirm the appeal.
Earlier that day, the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation reported that as part of the investigation into the criminal case of the terrorist attack that resulted in the crash of an Il-76 in the Belgorod region, investigators carried out work to identify the bodies of the victims. The results of genetic examinations made it possible to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the belonging of the seized body fragments to six crew members, three military police officers and 65 Ukrainian military personnel who died in a plane crash as a result of an attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), noted the Russian Investigative Committee.
Also, on February 1, the Russian Investigative Committee reported that the Il-76 was shot down by a MIM-104A missile from the American Patriot air defense system, which was in service with the Ukrainian military.
On January 31, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the investigation into the crash of the Il-76 military aircraft was ongoing.
The Russian transport plane crashed on the morning of January 24. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the plane was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces using two missiles, and called the incident a terrorist act of the Kyiv regime. On board the plane were six crew members, 65 Ukrainian prisoners for exchange and three Russian military personnel accompanying them. Everyone died. The department noted that the Kiev regime planned to blame Russia for the destruction of the Ukrainian military.
Immediately after the incident, Ukrainian media stated that the plane was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, later publications edited the materials, removing information about Kyiv’s responsibility for what happened. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that the country allegedly did not know who was on board the plane, while they confirmed that an exchange of prisoners of war was to take place between the parties that day.
Commenting on the situation with the downed plane, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on January 26 that there is a number of evidence confirming Kyiv’s involvement in the plane crash, in particular the fact that the plane was attacked with the help of air defense systems. He later called for an international investigation into the Il-76 crash.
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