Russia and Ukraine trade accusations over fatal military plane crash

Photograph: Russian Investigative Committee/Reuters

Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations over the fatal crash of a military transport plane that Moscow claims was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war and was shot down by Kyiv’s forces.

The Russian Il-76 was filmed crashing on Wednesday into a huge ball of fire in a rural area of Russia near the border with Ukraine. Moscow quickly accused Kyiv of downing the large aircraft and said it was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being transported for a prisoner exchange.

Ukrainian officials on Thursday did not explicitly deny shooting down the aircraft but said they could not confirm that Ukrainian soldiers on their way to a prisoner exchange were onboard the plane.

Some officials in Kyiv cast doubt on Russia’s claim that PoWs were onboard.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, wrote on X: “Currently, there are no signs of the fact that there were so many people on the Il-76 plane, be they citizens of Ukraine or not.

“Ukraine demands a transparent international investigation regarding the downing of this plane.”

The cause of the crash remains unknown.

Kyiv previously confirmed a prisoner exchange was due to take place on Wednesday at the border between the two countries but said Moscow did not inform them that any prisoners of war would be transported by plane.

Ukraine’s SBU security service on Thursday opened a criminal investigation into the downing of the military plane, saying it would look into possible “violations of the laws and customs of war”.

On Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian president similarly called for an international investigation into the crash, accusing Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video broadcast: “It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones and the emotions of our society.”

But Russia’s access to the area where the crash happened will likely hamper any future investigation and no independent groups have yet visited the crash site.

Both sides on Thursday also offered conflicting narratives over the hours preceding the plane crash. A senior Russian lawmaker said Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before a Russian military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war entered an area where it was shot down on Wednesday.

Andrey Kartapolov, who heads Russia’s Duma defence committee, told lawmakers: “The Ukrainian side was officially warned, and 15 minutes before the plane entered the zone they were given complete information, which they received and the main intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian armed forces confirmed receipt of.”

Ukraine rejected Kartapolov’s claims, stating that Moscow had not informed it about the flight arrangements.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said on Thursday that contrary to practice before previous PoW swaps, Kyiv had received no requests from Russia to refrain from offensive actions.

Nevertheless, Yusov appeared to hint that Ukrainian PoWs could have been onboard, telling Radio Svoboda: “Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons for S-300 systems [being used in the war].”

The Kremlin on Thursday stuck to its position that Ukraine had downed the plane, with Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson describing it as “a totally monstrous act”.

Conflicting narratives from both sides have emerged as a daily feature of a war that is now nearing the end of its second year. Many of Russia’s denials and accusations during the war have proved to be demonstrably untrue, including Moscow’s claims that the country has not targeted civilians in Ukraine.