Watan-The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the crash of an “Il-76” plane with 65 Ukrainian soldiers on board, who were prisoners, in the Belgorod region west of the country.

The ministry stated that the plane was carrying, in addition to the captive soldiers, 3 accompanying individuals and a crew of 6 members.

It added that Russian authorities sent a team from the air force to the crash site to investigate the causes, and search and rescue teams were also directed to the area.

The incident resulted in the death of everyone on board the plane, and footage circulated on social media showed the aircraft plummeting before a large explosion occurred amidst flames and black smoke.

Ukraine accused of targeting the plane

In response, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Russian State Duma, pointed fingers at Ukraine, accusing it of shooting down the plane that was transporting these prisoners in an attempt to exchange them, according to Moscow.

He said in parliament, “They killed their soldiers in the air Their children and mothers were waiting for them… They killed our pilots who were on a humanitarian mission… with American and German missiles.”

تحمل أسرى حرب أوكرانيين.. وزارة الدفاع الروسية تعلن تحطم طائرة نقل عسكرية من طراز إيل-76#الجزيرة_مباشر #روسيا #أوكرانيا pic.twitter.com/5RRTBhsucl

— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) January 24, 2024

In a related context, Duma Chairman Volodin called on lawmakers to vote on a resolution targeting the United States and Germany for providing ground-to-air missile systems to Ukraine.

Regular targeting of Ukrainian forces

From time to time, Ukraine targets Russian aircraft, and it announced last week the downing of a reconnaissance plane “A-50” and the destruction of an “Il-22” aircraft.