Within minutes of the crash, Russia claimed the military plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew and three people accompanying them, without providing any evidence. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod region, said all 74 people onboard had been killed in the crash.
Sources within the Ukrainian military had told local media that the downing of the Russian military aircraft was ‘their work’ and that it was carrying S-300 air defence missiles. But that claim was later retracted.
And Andrei Kartapolov, a member of Russia’s State Duma and a retired general, claimed the plane was shot down by three types of missiles that the West has supplied to Ukraine, without providing evidence.
He said investigations would reveal whether the missiles were the US-made Patriots or German IRIS-Ts.
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“We do not have reliable and comprehensive information about who exactly was on board the plane,” GUR said, adding that “the Ukrainian side was not informed about the need to ensure the safety of airspace in the area of Belgorod, as was repeatedly done in the past”. Russia’s failure to do so, GUR added, suggests the incident amounted to “planned and deliberate actions with the aim of destabilising the situation in Ukraine”. In a cryptic statement issued after the crash, Ukraine’s general staff said it would continue to target Russian military transport planes in the Belgorod region given that they deliver missiles used to target the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. “The armed forces of Ukraine will continue to take measures to destroy means of delivery, control the airspace to destroy the terrorist threat, including in the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction,” the statement said. Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times they were investigating the downing and would provide more information later.