Iran Press/ Europe: Russia’s Defence Ministry on Wednesday accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane, killing all 74 people aboard, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war being swapped.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately confirm or deny Russia's claims about the crash in Russia's Belgorod border region, although they said they were looking into them.
The Russian Defense Ministry blamed Ukraine for the downing of the Ilyushin-76 cargo plane inside Russian airspace, 5 to 6 kilometers (about 3 to 3.7 miles) from the village of Yablonovo in the Korocha district. It said Kyiv had used an anti-aircraft missile system to target the aircraft and called it an act of terrorism.
“The plane was destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the area of Liptsy, Kharkiv region, using an anti-aircraft missile system,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The radar equipment of the Russian Aerospace Forces observed the launch of two Ukrainian missiles.”
Air defense systems in the Belgorod region were active shortly before the crash, according to information from the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
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