Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners”, after a deadly plane crash in western Russia.
He demanded an international inquiry after Wednesday’s crash in the Belgorod region near Ukraine’s border.
Russia said there were no survivors after Kyiv had downed the Il-76 plane with 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six Russian crew and three escorts.
Moscow claimed the Ukrainians were being flown for a prisoner exchange.
Ukraine’s military intelligence said it had not been told to ensure safe airspace, as on previous occasions.
In his video address late on Wednesday, President Zelensky said it was “obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society”.
Mr Zelensky – who has now cancelled a planned regional trip linked to his birthday on Thursday – stressed that “all clear facts must be established”.
The comments by Ukraine’s military intelligence earlier in the day were seen as a tacit acknowledgement that it shot the military transport plane down, although it stressed it had no reliable information about who was on board.
Video shared on social media showed a plane going down followed by an explosion and a fireball near the village of Yablonovo, 70km (44 miles) to the north-east of the city of Belgorod, at about 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT).
Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the plane crashed in a field near a residential area and that everyone on board had died.
Ukraine’s general staff, quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website, said initially that the plane was transporting missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defence systems. It made no mention of PoWs.
None of the details surrounding those on board can be independently verified, but Ukraine’s military intelligence said it was Russia’s responsibility “to ensure the safety of our defenders under the agreements that had been reached”.
On this occasion it said it had not been informed that the airspace had to be safeguarded “at the defined time, which is something that had happened on numerous occasions before”.
“This can point to Russia’s deliberate actions aimed at putting the lives and safety of the PoWs under threat,” it added.
Ukraine and Russia have taken part in a number of prisoner swaps since the start of the war.
BBC
