There are reports of conflict over which country’s military shot down an Ilyushin Il-76 fighter jet in Russia’s Belgorod region on Wednesday. The plane was carrying 74 passengers, 65 of whom were Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. A senior Russian lawmaker said the Russian military notified the Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate 15 minutes before the plane entered the disputed airspace. Ukrainian military intelligence denied receiving a request from Russia to notify regional air defenses about the arrival of the POW flight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners” and called for an international investigation. Russia currently has sole access to the crash site and has collected the plane’s black box for further testing at a Ministry of Defense laboratory.
read more:
