Ukraine Continues to Demand Return of Bodies from Russian Plane Crash
Ukraine has once again urged Russia to hand over the bodies of prisoners of war who were reportedly killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Ukrainian forces. However, Russia has refused to comply with this request, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official.
Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence, reiterated Ukraine's call for an international investigation into the crash, which occurred on January 24. Such an investigation would determine whether the cargo plane was carrying weapons, passengers, or only the crew.
The crash has sparked a fierce exchange of accusations between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow has accused Kyiv of killing its own soldiers, while Ukraine has dismissed these assertions as 'rampant Russian propaganda.' Ukrainian officials have neither confirmed nor denied that their forces were responsible for downing the Il-76 plane, and Russia's claim that Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the crash remains unverified.
While some Western intelligence assessments have suggested that the plane was shot down by a missile from Ukraine, they have been unable to confirm the presence of prisoners of war on board. A French military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that France's military concluded that Ukrainian forces used a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missiles to shoot down the Russian plane from a distance of approximately 50 kilometers away. The official added that the Ukrainian battery managed to remain hidden until it got closer to the target, then turned on its radars briefly to carry out the strike.
Another Western official also stated that the plane was brought down by a missile, rather than a mechanical failure, and it is highly likely that the missile was fired from Ukrainian territory. However, it is not yet clear whether the plane was indeed transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In response to Ukraine's request for the bodies to be handed over, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, stated that the Kremlin had not received any such request from Ukraine. Peskov later added that it would be up to Russian law enforcement agencies to consider handing over the bodies once the official investigation into the crash concludes. Putin himself has called for an international inquiry into what he described as a 'crime' committed by Ukraine.
Yusov revealed that some Ukrainian prisoners of war who were scheduled to be part of a prisoner exchange on the day of the crash were eventually released on Wednesday, as approximately 200 Ukrainian prisoners returned home.
According to Russia's Investigative Committee, which is leading the probe into the crash, the military transport plane was brought down by a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system supplied to Ukraine by Western allies, including the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. The committee claimed that there were a total of 74 people on board the plane, comprised of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew members, and three Russian servicemen. Allegedly, all of them were killed when the plane crashed in the Belgorod region near Ukraine, exploding into a massive fireball.
The Investigative Committee stated that over 670 body fragments have been recovered and all the crash victims have been identified. Additionally, 116 fragments of the missiles supposedly fired from a Patriot system near the village of Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine were also found. The committee presented a video purportedly showing the missile fragments with visible markings that supposedly prove their origin.
Meanwhile, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated, with Russia launching long-range strikes against Ukraine. The front line, which spans 1,500 kilometers, has remained largely static as the conflict approaches its two-year mark. In the town of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown, an energy infrastructure facility was damaged in a drone attack, leaving 100,000 people without electricity and 113 coal miners trapped underground. Fortunately, all the miners were eventually brought to safety after partial restoration of electrical supply.
The situation remains tense, and both countries are locked in a bitter standoff as they await the outcome of the international investigation into the downing of the Russian military transport plane.
