Russian official confirms plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners was hit by missile
(Baonghean.vn) - Russian investigators have found fragments of one or more missiles among the wreckage of the Il-76 transport plane shot down in the Belgorod region, TASS reported on January 25, citing a source from the emergency services agency.
The military plane was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war to a scheduled exchange when it crashed on the morning of January 24. The Russian Defense Ministry said two surface-to-air missiles were fired from Ukrainian territory and appeared to have hit the Il-76, leaving no survivors.
The flight manifest shows there were six crew members, three Russian officials and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board. “The parts found on the ground confirm external impact on the aircraft. They will be sent for examination,” an emergency services source said on January 25. Civil, military and criminal investigators are combing the crash site for clues and collecting further evidence for analysis.
A French military source told state broadcaster FranceInfo that the missile that shot down the Il-76 was a US-made Patriot missile operated by the Ukrainian military. According to Russian reporter Alexander Kots, one of the Russian investigators at the scene, the “shape of the destruction and damage to the fuselage” was similar to a Patriot.
The Kremlin has condemned the incident as a “heinous act” by the Ukrainian government against its own citizens. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an “international investigation” to “establish the clear truth” about what happened, stressing that the plane crashed on Russian territory.
France, which holds the presidency of the UN Security Council, has rejected Russia's request to hold an emergency session on the incident, instead scheduling a meeting for the afternoon of January 25 local time.
