Questions remain over a military plane crash in which Russia said Thursday killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a planned prisoner exchange, with the Kremlin releasing the first video footage of the alleged crash site. .
Russia’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have accused the Ukrainian military of shooting down an IL-76 transport plane over the southern Belgorod region on Wednesday.
The ship was said to be carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers, their escorts, and crew.
Videos on social media showed a large plane in the area plummeting sideways from above before crashing in a fireball, in what the Kremlin called a “heinous act.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee for Serious Crimes later announced that it had opened a “terrorism” investigation into the crash, saying the plane was shot down by a “missile from Ukrainian territory.”
A 39-second video of the scene released shows an aerial view of a vast blackened area, consisting mainly of snow-covered fields and some damaged trees.
The video also showed one twisted block of metal and wire and some human remains, a hand and arm, but it is unclear whether they belonged to one or two people. No other human remains were shown.
“Fragmented bodies of people and the flight recorder of the aircraft, which was sent for deciphering, were discovered,” the commission said.
Ukraine’s SBU Security Service also announced that it had opened a criminal investigation into the shooting, specifically regarding “violations of the laws and customs of war.”
Ukraine’s rights ombudsman Dmytro Rubinets called on the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to allow a visit to the crash site.
The ICRC did not respond to Kiev’s request, but called the crash reports “alarming” in a statement to AFP.
“We will not make any comments or speculation at this stage until the facts are known.”
～Security Council meeting～
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet later Thursday to discuss the Russian government’s charges that Kiev shot down a military transport plane.
France, which holds the presidency of the Security Council, announced in a statement that the meeting would be held at 5pm (10pm Japan time) at Russia’s request.
Kiev authorities have not completely denied Russia’s claims, but have questioned key aspects of the report, including whether military personnel were killed.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said it did not have “comprehensive information” detailing who was on board the plane.
Kiev confirmed that exchanges were planned at the two countries’ border later on Wednesday.
However, military intelligence said the Russian side had not given advance notice that the prisoners would be transported by plane, as in the past.
In another carefully worded statement, the Ukrainian military pointed to increased Russian military activity in the Belgorod region and pledged to continue attacks on Russian military targets, but again Moscow’s claims specifically I didn’t touch it.
Ukrainian media initially reported, citing defense sources, that the Ukrainian military shot down the plane and that it was equipped with missiles. These claims were quickly retracted.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has neither confirmed nor denied the Russian government’s claims.
He said late Wednesday that Russia was “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war” and called for an international investigation.
– evidence? –
Russian authorities issued a series of statements presenting their side of the story, but provided no evidence that there were any prisoners on board.
The Russian government has been far more cautious about previous incidents.
For example, when Kiev claimed to have shot down a Russian A-50 reconnaissance plane and damaged an Il-22 bomber over the Azov Sea last week, the country made no comment.
In August, a plane carrying Evgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenaries, crashed on a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
Mr Prigozhin was killed along with his aides in the attack two months after he angered President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to overthrow Russia’s military leadership.
President Putin claimed that the plane crashed because a passenger detonated a grenade on board, but Russia offered no evidence.
When Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board, the Kremlin offered a variety of explanations, sometimes contradictory.
In 2022, a Dutch court sentenced three men fighting in Kremlin-backed separatist groups to life in prison in absentia.
– Ukraine attack –
Separately, Ukrainian security sources told AFP on Thursday that security services in Kiev orchestrated a nighttime drone attack on an oil refinery in the southern Russian town of Tuapse.
Kiev has stepped up strikes against Russian oil and gas facilities in the past two months, calling it “just” retaliation for Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure in the past two weeks, including a massive fire at a warehouse in western Russia last Friday.
Russia announced Thursday that a woman was killed in a drone attack in the village of Lozovaya Rudka, located directly on the border with Ukraine in the Belgorod region.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media: “The village of Lozovaya Rudka was attacked by Ukrainian troops with quadcopters. Explosives were dropped from there. Unfortunately, as a result, civilian settlements were destroyed. A person died,” he said. The media added that the victim was a woman.
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