Kiev official: No Ukrainian prisoners of war on downed Russian Il-76

A Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft (Illustration: Wikipedia).

“I can definitely tell you that our prisoners are not there,” Mr Danilov said in an interview with the Ukrainian website Babel .

Mr. Danilov was referring to a Russian Il-76 transport plane that crashed in Russia’s Belgorod region on January 24. Russia said the plane was hit by two US-made Patriot missiles while carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange.

Following Russia's announcement, Ukraine demanded that the other side return the bodies of prisoners believed to have been on board the plane.

Russia did not respond to the request, according to the Kyiv Independent . Russia said it had verified the DNA identities of all those on board the plane, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. However, they have not provided specific evidence.

Responding to Russia's statements, Mr. Danilov said the other side was fabricating. He said that if Ukrainian prisoners of war were really on the plane, Russia would film evidence at the crash site and make it widely available.

Ukrainian officials added that if there were casualties, the amount of "biological material" at the site would be huge, similar to the crash site of Ukraine International Flight 752 in 2020.

“There is nothing like that here. They have prepared the whole story,” Mr. Danilov said. “They have nothing to present because if this really happened, everything would be completely different.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the Russian Il-76 transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners was shot down by a US-made Patriot missile.

Citing unnamed US officials, the New York Times reported that the US-made Patriot missile system was most likely the cause of the plane crash. There may have been at least a number of Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Il-76, according to sources in the New York Times .

These officials said that Ukraine may have shot down the Il-76 based on faulty intelligence because the plane had previously been used to transport missiles.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/quan-chuc-kiev-khong-co-tu-binh-ukraine-tren-chiec-il-76-nga-bi-ban-roi-20240210121953498.htm