January 24, 2024, 11:58 a.m. ET
Belgorod governor says air defense operations were underway in the region just before the military plane crashed
From CNN’s Radina Zygova and Katarina Krebs
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov speaks to the media in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.
Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images/File
According to information from the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the air defense system in the Belgorod region was activated shortly before the crash of the Russian military transport plane on Wednesday morning.
Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel that the drone was shot down over the village of Brizhny, about 60 kilometers southwest of Yabulanovo, where the plane crashed. The governor’s post was published at 10:35 a.m. local time, about 40 minutes before Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that the plane had crashed.
In another post published at 11:12 a.m. local time, Gladkov reported that an air raid warning had been issued and warned people to evacuate. After about 30 minutes, the alert was lifted, he said.
The governor’s telegram post makes no connection to the air alert, drone interception, or plane crash.
In recent months, Belgorod has been targeted by the Ukrainian military, primarily using drones, but also other types of weapons. Kiev has not yet commented on Moscow’s claims that Ukraine was responsible for the downing of the transport plane.
