The Russian Federation did not return the people who were on the list on the day of the IL-76 crash, — DMI

The fall of Il-76 in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. Photo from social networks

During the exchange on January 31, Ukrainian prisoners of war were returned from Russian captivity, who were planned to be returned on January 24, in addition to 65 people, whom the Russian side called dead.

Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, reported this in a comment to Ukrinform.

«Actually, today there was a continuation of the exchange that was supposed to take place on January 24. All those expected then returned, except for the list of 65 people, whom the Russian side called dead,» he said.

Andrii Yusov added that the Ukrainian side has no evidence that 65 Ukrainian soldiers died.

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We will remind, on January 31, 207 Ukrainian soldiers were returned from Russian captivity. 83 of them are National Guardsmen, border guards and policemen.

The fall of IL-76

A Russian Il-76 military aircraft crashed in the morning of January 24 in the Belgorod region. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, he was transporting Ukrainian prisoners. At the same time, information appeared in the Ukrainian mass media that there were S-300 anti-aircraft missiles on board.

The governor of the region, Viacheslav Hladkov, confirmed that there was an extraordinary event in the Korochanskyi district and he is going to the scene of the incident.

Later, the State Security Service confirmed that the exchange of prisoners between the Russian Federation and Ukraine was to take place on January 24.

At the same time, the journalists of the «Scheme» project announced that they had established the names of the crew members of the Russian Il-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation on January 24. The death of at least three of them was confirmed by their relatives.

According to journalists, the crew belonged to the 117th military transport aviation regiment stationed in Orenburg. «Schemes» claim to have received the names of six people who were supposed to accompany this flight, verified their positions and affiliation with military aviation.

The Russian Federation called an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the crash of the Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, said that Ukraine will insist on an international investigation of the situation surrounding the downing of the Russian Il-76 plane.

On January 25, the Russians found a device for recording flight parameters and a voice recorder at the crash site of the IL-76 in the Belgorod region.

As the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andriy Yusov, said, Russian high-ranking officials were supposed to be on board the Il-76 plane, which crashed the day before in the Belgorod region of Russia, but at the last moment the FSB forbade them to board. He also noted that no human remains are visible on the video from the plane crash site. And only five bodies were delivered to the local morgue in Belgorod the day before, which indicates the number of crew members.

On January 25, military expert Roman Svitan noted that the Russian Il-76 plane was most likely shot down by a S-300 missile that was sent to Kharkiv.

On January 30, the DMI noted that Russia has not yet shown readiness to hand over to Ukraine the bodies of prisoners who were allegedly on board the Russian ship.