Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of shooting down a military transport plane that Moscow said was carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were set to be swapped for Russians held by Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately confirm or deny the Russian claim but said they were investigating the crash of the Il-76 transport. Russia said a crew of six and three prisoner escorts were also on board.
“We currently do not have reliable or comprehensive information on who was on board the plane or in what number," Ukraine's main intelligence directorate said in a statement.
Video of the crash posted on social media showed a plane falling from the sky on its side before crashing into a massive fireball as it hit the ground in Russia’s snowy, rural, western Belgorod region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in New York this week for meetings at the United Nations. He accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack.”
“The Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to conduct yet another swap that was agreed between Moscow and Kyiv,” Lavrov told reporters. “Instead of this, the Ukrainian side launched an air defense missile from the Kharkiv region, it targeted the airplane and was a fatal strike.”
Kharkiv borders Belgorod, which is Russian territory. The two sides have carried out numerous prisoner swaps during their nearly 2-year war.
Lavrov said Moscow had requested an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting for Wednesday afternoon. It has been scheduled for Thursday, as there is already a council meeting planned for Wednesday.
Russia’s defense ministry put out a similar statement that was not backed up with any evidence.
Firefighters, ambulances and police rushed to the site of the crash in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, the state news agency Tass reported, citing a local emergency services official.
Two news agencies, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, said they could not independently verify the Russian claims that Ukraine shot down the aircraft.
Russia also reported destroying a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region earlier Wednesday, in addition to intercepting four drones over the Oryol region in western Russia.
Russian forces carried out a massive missile attack Tuesday on Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said killed at least 18 people.
The worst-hit areas were the capital, Kyiv, and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday that more than 130 people were injured, and that the attack damaged 139 homes.
He said the Russian attack utilized 40 missiles, calling the barrage “another combined attack attempting to bypass our air defense system.”
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down about half of the missiles.
VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some material for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
