
MOSCOW — Russia accused Ukraine of intentionally shooting down a military transport plane on Wednesday — killing all 74 people on board, the majority of whom were Ukrainian POWs en route to a negotiated prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Il-76 transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners to the prisoner exchange when it crashed in the Belgorod region near Ukraine's border just after 11:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. EST) Wednesday, due to a "terrorist act."