All 74 occupants of a Russian Il-76 military transport plane, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, died on Wednesday when the plane crashed in the Russian region of Belgorodan incident for which Russia blames Ukraine, a country whose government has not yet acknowledged having responsibility and calls for an international investigation. This is what is known about the incident a day after it occurred:

failed exchange

According to Moscow, the aircraft was transporting Ukrainian prisoners to be exchanged for Russian soldiers held by the Ukrainian army at the Kolotílovka border post. On the plane, which had taken off from an airfield on the outskirts of Moscow and was due to land at another near Belgorod, the regional capitall, six crew members and three escorts were also traveling. The Kremlin assured on Thursday that, after the “monstrous act” committed by Kyiv, the future of the prisoner exchanges is “in question.” The last major prisoner exchange took place on January 3, when Ukraine handed over 248 Russian soldiers to Russia in exchange for 230 Ukrainian soldiers.

Russia accuses Ukraine

The plane was hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile launched from the Kharkiv border region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia considered that It was a “terrorist act” committed by Kyiv against its own people. “In Kyiv they knew very well that an exchange would occur and they knew the route by which the prisoners would be transported. The attack on the plane was a deliberate and conscious action,” according to Russian Foreign Affairs.

List of deceased

The director of Russian state television RT, Margarita Simonián, published on Wednesday a list with 65 full names and dates of birth of Ukrainian prisoners who were on board the crashed plane. According to Russian and Ukrainian sources, some of these soldiers were captured in the spring of 2022, shortly after the start of the war (February of that year), and had been waiting their turn to be exchanged since last summer, when exchanges between Russia and Ukraine were interrupted for almost half a year.

Security Council Meeting

Moscow also called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address the Il-76 crash. France, as acting president of the Council, announced that the highest body will meet on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT) to discuss the accident of the Russian plane.

Ukraine calls for investigation

The Ukrainian authorities remained silent for a long time about their possible involvement in the incident, but they did acknowledge that a prisoner exchange with Russia was being prepared. President Volodymyr Zelensky asked in a speech let the facts be clarified and accused Russia of being “playing with the lives of captive (Ukrainian soldiers) and their families and with the emotions of” Ukrainian society. “Our State will insist on an international investigation,” said Zelensky, who explained that Ukraine will share with its partners all available information about the event.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mikola Oleshchuk, described this morning as “false flow of information” Russian official statements about the Il-76. “During the day of January 24, frantic Russian propaganda has transmitted a false flow of information to an external audience in an attempt to discredit Ukraine before the international community,” Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram.