There was no official affirmation on who downed the aircraft, however Russia accuses Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine are locked in a dispute concerning the our bodies of individuals killed within the crash of a Russian navy transport aircraft who Moscow says had been Ukrainian prisoners of conflict.
A Ukrainian intelligence official stated in televised remarks late on Thursday that Kyiv has urged Moscow handy over the our bodies of these killed within the January 24 crash, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine. He stated Moscow has refused.
Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s navy intelligence, reiterated Kyiv’s name for a world investigation into the crash over the Russian area of Belgorod to find out whether or not the cargo aircraft carried weapons or passengers together with the crew.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed the state RIA Novosti information company on Friday that the Kremlin hadn’t acquired a Ukrainian request handy over the our bodies.
Russia wouldn’t solely welcome but additionally “insist” on a world inquiry into the aircraft’s downing, Putin stated this week as he described the crash as a “crime” by Ukraine.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft that Russia says was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs. Russia’s declare concerning the prisoners couldn’t be independently verified.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, its major state felony investigation company, stated the aircraft was introduced down by the US-made Patriot missile defence system, which Western allies have equipped to Kyiv for the conflict towards Russia.
The committee stated it has recovered 116 fragments of two missiles that had been fired from a Patriot system close to the village of Lyptsi in Ukraine’s Kharkiv area, which sits on the opposite aspect of the border from Belgorod. It had a video that purported to point out some missile fragments mendacity within the snow with markings stated to show their origin.
It additionally stated it has recognized all of the crash victims.
Russian officers stated there have been 74 individuals on board – 65 Ukrainian POWs, six crew members and three Russian servicemen – all of whom had been killed.
Regardless of the crash, the 2 nations accomplished a prisoner change on Wednesday, every swapping 195 POWs.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which is nearing its two-year mark, continues to rage, with Russia finishing up long-range strikes on Ukraine with missiles and drones.
Ukraine on Thursday stated it used sea drones to assault and destroy a Russian warship within the Black Sea close to the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
In Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, a drone strike broken an vitality facility, leaving 100,000 recipients with out electrical energy and 113 coal miners stranded underground in two mines. Oleksandr Vilkul, the top of the central metropolis’s defence council, stated all of the miners had been delivered to security after energy was partially restored.
