Russia accuses Kyiv of shooting down military transport plane, killing 65 Ukrainian POWs aboard

Moscow, January 24

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Wednesday accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane, killing all 74 people aboard, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war being swapped.

The POWs were being transported to Russia’s Belgorod region, the ministry said.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the crash and The Associated Press could not confirm who was aboard. Officials in Kyiv cautioned against sharing unverified information.

In addition to the 65 POWs, the Il-76 transport carried a crew of six and three other passengers, the ministry said.

According to the statement, Russian radar registered the launch of two Ukrainian missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region bordering Belgorod. The ministry called the attack “a terrorist act”.

Video of the crash posted on social media showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a massive ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.

Firefighters, ambulances and police rushed to the site in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, state news agency Tass reported, citing a local emergency services official.

Shortly before the crash, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said on his Telegram channel that a “missile alert” had been triggered in the region and warned residents to take shelter.

The plane is designed to airlift troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons. It can carry up to 225 troops, according to Russia’s military export agency.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a major Russian missile attack on Tuesday had killed 18 people and injured 130.

The barrage, employing more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and guided missiles hit 130 residential buildings in three Ukrainian cities, “all ordinary houses,” Zelenskyy said on X, formerly Twitter.

Russia’s onslaught, which included targets in the capital Kyiv and second-largest city Kharkiv, was the heaviest in weeks and lent weight to Zelenskyy’s appeals for Western allies to provide more military aid.