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Russia Ukraine War - Large Military Airplane Ilyushin Il

Russia updates that an lL-76, a military aircraft crashed in the western Belgorod region of Russia which borders Ukraine, taking 76 lives on board. The Russian media reported that 65 Ukrainian servicemen were boarded on the plane, being taken to Belgorod from Chkalovsky airfield for an exchange. The aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war along with six crew and three others. This incident took place in the korochansky district. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on this incident yet but officials in kyiv have urged caution in sharing unverified information.
The Russian defence ministry calls it "a terrorist act." Ilyushin Il-76 (Il-76) is a Russian air force fixed wing, four engine turbofan strategic airlifter mostly used in emergency. Telegram messenger app Baza, posted a video of a falling aircraft and no sooner it touched the ground then exploded. Russia's leading news agency TASS quoted the country’s defence ministry as saying that “an Ilyushin-76 transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region during a scheduled flight at about 11 am Moscow time (8 am GMT)”.

CNN Report on this incident

CNN reported that Ukraine confirmed that a prisoner exchange was scheduled for Wednesday, but said “it is not happening at the moment.” The Ukrainian government agency tasked with prisoners of war had issued a statement saying it is investigating claims that the plane was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war. It also warned that Russia was “actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilizing Ukrainian society”.

What does The RIA-Novosti news agency has to say about this?

The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted the defence ministry, "On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members and three escorts. At around 11 am Moscow time (0800 GMT), an IL-76 aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region during a routine flight."

Suspicions and scepticism regarding the event

Vyacheslav Volodin claims, "They shot their own soldiers in the air. Their own."
"Our pilots, who were carrying out a humanitarian mission, were shot down." he added. Luke Harding showed his disbelief on Russia's claim as he wrote, "There is growing scepticism in Kyiv about Russia’s claims that the military aircraft that crashed on Wednesday morning was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war."

Anton Gerashchenko, a popular blogger and adviser to the internal affairs ministry showed Russia's charges on Russia as unconvincing and wrote on X, “Only structures of Russia’s MoD remain.”

Keir Giles, a fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia program shows doubts regarding this incident. He said: “The Russian story – that Ukraine might indeed have shot down an aircraft carrying their own PoW – is gaining traction because of uncritical repetition in western media, with too many outlets already reporting this as a tragic mistake. But at this point, we have no way for certain of knowing what has happened. So far, the only suggestion that there were Ukrainians on board comes from the Russian Ministry of Defence, which usually serves as an indicator that the opposite is true.” He further added, “Even if the story of PoW on board is a complete fabrication, that doesn’t stop Russia exploiting the untruth- just look at how doubt over Russia’s shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 persisted, driven by a long-running and intensive Russian disinformation campaign." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Russian missile strikes throughout the country killed 18 people and injured more than 130.

UK defence Secretary Grant Shapps regarding the Russia Ukraine War

Writing in Politico, the UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said, “Ukraine has done an unbelievable job of repelling its invader. It has retaken 50 per cent of the territory stolen by Russia, and opened up a maritime passage in the Black Sea. But Kyiv needs more support – and not just from the UK. Our fellow allies must step up too.”

Whereas Ukrinform "The National News Agency of Ukraine" recently reports that Yevhen Zakharov, the Director of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, has said that about 530 religious buildings mostly targeted amongst them are Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been damaged during the course of war.