Russia ready to hand over bodies of fallen Ukrainian defenders from crashed IL-76
Russia has declared its readiness to hand over to Ukraine the bodies of the fallen Ukrainian soldiers, who allegedly died in the crash of an IL-76 military transport plane in Belgorod Oblast on Jan. 24, Russian propaganda agency RIA Novosti stated on March 1, citing Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova.
“We have everything we need from the point of view of the procedure,” the Russian ombudsman said.
“The bodies can be transferred in accordance with the procedures that exist.”
Moskalkova also said that she is in contact with Kyiv in the case of the plane crash, and the Ukrainian side, according to her, was interested in the possibility of transferring the bodies.
Russian IL-76 crash — what is known
A Russian IL-76 military transport plane, designed to airlift troops, cargo, military equipment, and weapons, crashed in the Korocha district of the southern Belgorod Oblast, which borders Ukraine, on Jan. 24.
A video of the incident appeared on social media. The footage showed the plane catching fire in midair and exploding in a huge fireball when it crashed.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 65 Ukrainian POWs were on board, heading to Belgorod Oblast for a prisoner exchange. Russia accused Ukraine of taking down the plane.
Ukraine’s General Staff, as quoted by NV’s sister outlet Ukrainska Pravda, said the plane was transporting missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defense systems. There was no mention of prisoners of war.
However, the head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Andriy Yusov, said a prisoner exchange had been scheduled to take place.
“I can state that the exchange planned for today is not going ahead,” he told Radio Svoboda.
Ukraine’s Armed Forces are not currently confirming that they downed the aircraft on the morning of Jan. 24, Armed Forces spokesperson Bohdan Senyk told NV.
The General Staff has officially stated that it tracks the launch sites of Russian missiles and the logistics of their delivery, especially by military transport aircraft, and will “continue to take measures to destroy delivery planes and control the airspace in order to destroy the terrorist threat.”
The Russians did not warn Ukraine about the need to secure the airspace near Belgorod, as they had done before. Ukraine was also not informed about the form of delivery of the prisoners, the route, or the number of vehicles.
On Feb. 1, Yusov, said that Russia refuses to hand over bodies of allegedly killed prisoners of war in the plane crash.
On Feb. 9, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said that there were no Ukrainian prisoners of war in the IL-76, but that Ukraine did not know for sure whether the soldiers who were supposed to be returned were alive.
On Feb. 13, Yusov said that 65 servicemen who were declared dead in the crash of the IL-76 plane by the Russians are still considered prisoners of war in Ukraine.
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