What is known so far about the IL-76 crash in Belgorod region of Russia:

▪️ The Il-76 crashed at about 11:00 Moscow time on a scheduled flight. On board were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being transported for exchange, as well as six crew members and three personnel accompanying the prisoners.

▪️ The plane crashed 5-6 kilometers from the village of Yablonovo, Korochansky district.

▪️ Residents of the Belgorod village of Yablonovo said that they heard two explosions with an interval of about a minute.

▪️ The causes of the disaster have not yet been officially announced.

▪️ Ambulance crews, firefighters and police officers have been sent to the crash site. Investigators and rescuers are also working there. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, visited the scene.

▪️ A Russian Aerospace Forces commission flew to the region to determine the causes of the disaster.

▪️All those on board the downed Il-76 were killed, Belgorod governor Gladkov said.

▪️ Dmitry Peskov said that he could not yet comment on the reports of the IL-76 crash: “I can’t say, this is quite new, fresh information, now we will deal with it.”

▪️ State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin proposed preparing an address to the US Congress and Bundestag in connection with what happened.

Il-76 crew showed tremendous heroism during doomed Russian plane’s final moments

“I must mention the heroic actions of the plane’s commander, who was able to swerve the already burning Il-76 away from the village of Yablonovo,” Andrei Koshkin, a retired Russian colonel and expert with the Association of Military-Political Scientists, told Sputnik.

“The plane’s destruction occurred in a field. The heroism on the part of the crew of the military transport aircraft is obvious. Not only did they see and feel that their plane was falling apart – according to eyewitnesses it was falling apart in the air, but at that moment they were able to reduce the number of victims. The courage and professionalism of our crew is worthy of high praise,” Koshkin said.

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❗The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirmed that an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine was being prepared today

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Il-76 ‘provocation’ could be result of chaos inside Ukraine’s military and political establishment

“It’s not very difficult to attack a military transport plane. Moreover, the motive is clearly a provocation. Moreover, this is a provocation within both Ukraine’s Armed Forces and within the Ukrainian political establishment,” Association of Military-Political Scientists expert Andrei Koshkin told Sputnik.

The observer is convinced that given the Il-76’s onboard complement of Ukrainian PoWs, Kiev was obviously aware of its route and flight details. Shortly after the incident, Ukrainian media reported that the country’s air defenses had shot down the Russian plane, deleting the reports after it was revealed that Ukrainian PoWs were onboard.

“Accordingly, if we’re talking about missiles purportedly launched from Kharkov region to hit this aircraft – that is, from about 130 km away, both the Patriot and IRIS-T air defense system, and even the Strela MANPADS, could have attacked it, if a sabotage and reconnaissance group [operating inside Belgorod region, ed.] was tapped to do so.”

“If it turns out that this provocation was organized by the decision of some forces inside Ukraine seeking to complicate the general situation or internal disputes between the political establishment and the military leadership of the country, we will see to what extent this provocation will be used in this confrontation,” Koshkin said.

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⚡️The Russian Ministry of Defense called the crash of an Il-76 in the Belgorod region a terrorist attack by the Kiev regime

❗️ Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has called the matter of the Il-76 plane crash the result of an internal political struggle among the neo-Nazi elites in Kiev.

The Russian pilots of the IL-76 are heroes, he added.

‘Is that how you classify Ukrainian prisoners of war? S-300 missiles?’: Scott Ritter has commented on the Ukrainian media's fake news that the downed Il-76 was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

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Russian Ministry of Defense: the plane on the Chkalovsky-Belgorod flight, which was carrying military personnel for an exchange, was shot down by the Kiev regime at about 11:15 Moscow time

⚡️Russian Ministry of Defense about the downed IL-76: radar equipment of the Russian Aerospace Forces recorded the launch of two Ukrainian missiles

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⚡️The crew and all passengers of the downed Il-76 were killed - Russian Ministry of Defense

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❗️Russian MoD on the IL-76 crash in Belgorod region:

▪️ Kiev shot down plane, pursuing goal of blaming Russia for destruction of Ukrainian military

▪️ Crew, all passengers of IL-76 plane died

▪️ Prisoner exchange was meant to take place in afternoon at Kolotilovka checkpoint on Russian-Ukrainian border

▪️ Ukraine well aware that prisoners will be transported by plane to Belgorod airfield on Wednesday according to established practice

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The Il-76 that crashed in Belgorod region had previously transported Ukrainian POWs. How and when did the last prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine take place?

◾️ On January 3, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the return of 248 Russian army personnel from captivity. The Ukrainian side reported that it repatriated 200 military personnel as part of the exchange, carried out through the UAE’s mediation.

◾️ In July 2023, the Ministry of Defense announced the return of 45 members of the Russian military from captivity. Ukraine returned 45 soldiers. There is no information about any intermediaries.

◾️In June, a prisoner swap took place between both sides, resulting in the return of nearly 200 individuals. The Russian side released 94 military personnel, while the Ukrainian side released 95.

◾️ In May, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the return of three Russian air force pilots from Ukrainian captivity. In turn, Kiev said that 45 National Guard POWs would return to Ukraine.

◾️ During 2023 and at the beginning of 2024, about a dozen prisoner exchanges had occurred between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, according to official data from the Russian Ministry of Defense. As a result of these swaps, about 800 Russian military personnel were repatriated. According to the leaders of the Kiev regime, Ukraine has returned about 730 members of the armed forces;

◾️According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, each swap was the result of a complex negotiation process. Russian military personnel faced grave peril while in captivity, necessitating their transportation to Russian territory via military transport aircraft.

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❗️ The Il-76 crew had time to report an "external impact," Viktor Bondarev, chairman of the Federation Council's Defense Committee, said.

He said he had no doubt that the aircraft was shot down.

⚡️The plane carrying Ukrainian POWs was destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the area of Liptsy, Kharkov region, using an anti-aircraft missile system, Russian MoD said.

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Cases when Ukrainian army shot their own military

The Ukrainian side knew their own prisoners of war were passengers on the downed Russian Il-76. This is not the first time the Ukrainian army have struck their own military or prisoners of war:

🔸December 2023. Ukrainian artillery killed 25 of their own fighters who tried to surrender to Russian troops in the Donetsk region, the deputy commander of the 1st infantry battalion of the 110th regiment told Sputnik;

🔸October 2023. Ukrainian drones three times tried to attack a detention center in Bryansk, where Ukrainian prisoners of war, including detained subversives, were being held;

🔸October 2023. The Ukrainian forces hit a Russian pickup truck that was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war by FPV drone. Two prisoners died, reported Vladimir Rogov, a senior official in the Zaporozhye regional administration:

🔸May 2023. Ukrainians attacked Ukrainian prisoners with HIMARS missiles in Artyomovsk, where they were being prepared for an exchange. The number of deaths remains unknown;

🔸July 2023. The Kiev regime launched HIMARS at the pre-trial detention center in Yelenovka, DPR. 40 captured Ukrainian soldiers and Azov terrorists died.

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Hasty decision to shoot down plane full of Ukrainian PoWs may cost Zelensky dearly

“The distance from Kharkov to Belgorod is 70 km…Ukraine’s Armed Forces have several anti-aircraft systems that can shoot down an aircraft at a range of 70 km,” Military Russia portal founder Dmitry Kornev told Sputnik. “This includes the S-300, the Patriot missile system, the IRIS-T and the NASAMS. All of these systems can technically shoot down an Il-76. The Il-76 is a good target for anti-aircraft systems. It’s a large plane, has no stealth, and can be targeted and shot down at great distances, unfortunately.”

The Russian military confirmed Wednesday afternoon that its radars had picked up two Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles launched from Lipstsy in Kharkov region. Six crew members, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war and three Russian servicemen were on board the lost plane. There were no survivors.

Kornev doesn’t rule out that the Il-76’s downing with Ukrainian PoWs onboard may have been part of a larger plot by Ukraine’s NATO sponsors designed to evoke urgent action to prop Kiev up, or conversely, put it in its place.

“The multi-billion dollar military aid package for Kiev is due to be reviewed in Washington this week. In this situation, many events can be triggered artificially to somehow affect this decisions in favor of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, or conversely, against them. It’s clear that different parties can play on this situation, including the United States, where different perspectives [on the Ukraine proxy war, ed.] intersect. More likely than not, this situation is not in Zelensky’s favor,” Kornev said.

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❗️ A French SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile system was hit for the first time in the special military operation zone, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported

❗️Ukrainian troops lost up to 870 military personnel killed and wounded, and seven tanks in various region for the last day, according to the Russian MoD.

In the Donetsk region, the active actions of the Southern Group of Russian Army have improved the situation along the front line. Air defense shot down eight HIMARS shells, two Tochka-U missiles and 51 Ukrainian drones.

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❗️Near Krasny Liman, two attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled, enemy losses amounted to up to 260 servicemen

🇷🇺🪖More statements by the Russian MoD on the progress of Special military op

▪️In the DPR, two attacks by Ukrainian forces attack aircraft were repelled in the area of the settlement of Shumy; the enemy lost up to 220 servicemen

▪️In the Zaporozhye region, air strikes destroyed up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen and two armored vehicles

▪️In the Kherson region, up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen were eliminated

▪️In the south of the DPR, enemy losses amounted to up to 105 military personnel, a British-made FH-70 howitzer was hit

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