An unexpected crisis erupted after a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners for a swap was shot down near the border with Ukraine on Wednesday.
A Russian plane that was allegedly transporting Ukrainian prisoners for a swap was shot down near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday, sparking an intense crisis between the two countries, which are already in war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded an international probe into the incident, saying that Russia was endangering the lives of Ukrainian prisoners and manipulating the public opinion. He did not confirm or deny the identity of the people on board the plane.
The UN Security Council will convene on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT) to address the issue of the Russian plane crash in Ukraine.
The plane, an Il-76, went down about 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border after witnesses reported hearing explosions in the air, according to Russian media. Moscow said that the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were supposed to be exchanged for Russian detainees, as well as three Russian guards and the crew.
Images of the Il-76 crashing and exploding in an open field were circulated on social media in Belgorod.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed at the UN that Ukraine initially admitted to shooting down the plane in an online publication, but then deleted it, which he said proved Ukraine’s culpability for the crash, even if it was accidental.
Meanwhile, Kyiv authorities were also looking into the possibility that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board the military transport plane.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmitro Lubinets said that he was “trying to establish the details of the incident and analyzing the information received.” He urged the media “not to spread unreliable information” released by Russia.
Andri Yusov, the representative of Ukrainian military intelligence, also said that his department of the Ministry of Defense was investigating the events in the Russian region bordering Ukraine. He told Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service that he had planned a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia for today.
The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the Ukrainian Army for shooting down the plane in a “terrorist act” that it said was done with two missiles from the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, near Russia. Moscow accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane “with the aim of accusing Russia” of killing the Ukrainian prisoners.
