Russia has found two black boxes from the Il-76 military transport plane that crashed in Belgorod, and investigators have issued initial conclusions about the incident.
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| Image cut from clip recording the IL-76 plane crash and explosion in Belgorod on January 24. (Source: The Drive) |
On January 25, Sputnik news agency stated: "Both black boxes have been found - the flight data recorder and the voice recorder."
These two black boxes will be taken by a special plane to the specialized laboratory of the Russian Ministry of Defense on January 25 for decoding.
On the same day, the press service of the Russian Federal Investigation Agency said in a statement: "The initial results of the investigative activities, including preliminary data from the examination of the scene of the incident, allow us to conclude that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile from the territory of Ukraine."
Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference, the US State Department announced that the country had nothing to do with the crash of the Russian Ministry of Defense IL-76 plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war.
"I can say with confidence that Washington was not involved in this in any way... We will work closely with our Ukrainian partners as they clarify the truth," said Vedant Patel, deputy director of the US State Department press office.
According to this official, the accident occurred on Russian territory "making it difficult to independently verify some details".
Previously, on January 24, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, 6 crew members and 3 escorts to the Belgorod region to conduct a prisoner exchange crashed and exploded.
RT news agency reported that all people on board the plane were killed.
Belgorod has been the site of several attacks since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia said the plane was shot down. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting following the crash.
Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin has ordered to prepare and send comments to the US and German Congresses regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, Ukraine did not confirm whether there were any Ukrainian prisoners on board, nor did it comment on whether it shot down the plane.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was looking into who was on board the plane, investigating all the circumstances and sharing all information with its allies. Kiev also called for an international investigation into the incident.
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