24th January, 2024
A Russian military plane with 74 people on board has crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia, near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday.
Everyone on board the plane were reportedly killed, according to the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
The Russian military says on board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported for exchange, six crew members and three escorts.
But Ukraine’s military said the plane was carrying air defense missiles.
The BBC quoted the local governor as saying there are no survivors.
The plane was flying from the Chkalovsky air base near Moscow to Belgorod, when it crashed. Verified footage by BBC showed a plane going down near the village of Yablonovo, 70km (44 miles) to the north-east of Belgorod city.
The cause of the crash is not yet clear and there are conflicting accounts about who or what was on board, according to the CNN.
Belgorod has come under frequent attacks from Ukraine in recent weeks. At the end of December last year strikes killed at least 25 people, in one of the deadliest single incidents for Russian civilians of the war, reports the CNN.
According to Gladkov, air defense systems in the Belgorod region were active shortly before the crash of the Russian military transport plane on Wednesday morning.
Gladkov, on his Telegram channel said that a drone had been shot down over the village of Blizhnee, which lied about 60 kilometers southwest of Yablanovo, where the plane crashed.
The governor’s post was published at 10:35 a.m. local time, about 40 minutes before Russia’s Defense Ministry says the plane crashed.