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A big Russian navy transport airplane crashed on Wednesday within the Belgorod area close to the border with Ukraine, state information companies stated, citing an announcement by the Russian Protection Ministry. Everybody onboard was killed, the regional governor stated.
The Protection Ministry stated that the airplane had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of warfare who had been being transferred to the area to be exchanged for Russian service personnel. The declare couldn’t be independently verified. The airplane was additionally carrying six crew members and three different people, the ministry stated, in accordance with Tass, a Russian state information company.
The governor of the Belgorod area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, stated in an announcement on social media that the airplane had crashed in a area close to a settlement within the Korochansky district and that there have been no survivors. He stated that emergency providers had been on the website and had been investigating.
A video posted to Telegram and verified by The Occasions confirmed a big airplane crashing and exploding in Yablonovo, a city within the Korochansky district.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s navy intelligence company, stated in an interview with Radio Liberty that his nation was wanting into Russia’s assertions that prisoners of warfare had been onboard. And he stated: “I can state that the change deliberate for immediately is at the moment not happening,” with out elaborating.
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to touch upon the crash studies, telling journalists that the data was nonetheless “too contemporary.” The Russian Air Drive command dispatched a bunch to the scene of the crash to attempt to decide the trigger, in accordance with the Protection Ministry assertion.
The airplane, an Il-76, was designed many years in the past within the Soviet Union to carry out navy duties similar to airlifting troops, cargo and weapons.
Andrei Kartapolov, a Russian lawmaker, stated at a session of the State Duma, the decrease home of Parliament, that the Il-76 had been shot down by three Ukrainian missiles. He stated that one other airplane carrying prisoners of warfare had been diverted after the crash. He didn’t present any proof for his declare, and it couldn’t be independently verified. Mr. Kartapolov additionally stated that each one potential change offers between Russia and Ukraine had been postponed.
The Belgorod area of Russia has a protracted border with Ukraine. Over the previous few weeks, it has been the scene of frequent Ukrainian assaults, together with a missile bombardment in December. It was additionally the staging floor for Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and for additional Russian strikes towards Ukrainian territory throughout the warfare.
Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging prisoners because the begin of the warfare by way of offers brokered by a third-party, such because the Turkey or the United Arab Emirates. These offers have been very sophisticated, with the perimeters meticulously negotiating each element.
In early January, after a protracted pause in exchanges that adopted the discharge in Turkey of 5 former commanders of Ukraine’s garrison within the Azovstal metal plant, which angered Moscow, Russia and Ukraine performed the biggest change of prisoners because the begin of the warfare.
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting.
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