Another mysterious Russian plane crash raises more questions than answers
It’s still unclear why a Russian military transport aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region near the Ukraine border on Wednesday, whether because it was brought down by a missile or suffered some catastrophic technical failure. But all 74 people on board were killed, according to Russian authorities.
The first images of the wreckage on the ground are inconclusive; one video shows the last seconds of the plane as it hurtles towards earth before a large fireball erupts.
But the Russian authorities have claimed that Ukrainian missiles were responsible – and that they killed 65 of their own prisoners of war, along with six crew members and three Russian personnel, who were on board the Ilyushin Il-76.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile system deployed in the area of Liptsy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from where the plane came down. It said radar equipment had detected the launches.
The Defense Ministry also claimed that “the Ukrainian leadership knew very well that, according to established practice, today Ukrainian military personnel would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield for exchange” at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian border with the Ukrainian region of Sumy.
In response, Ukraine’s military command said it regarded Russian military aircraft approaching Belgorod as legitimate targets but stopped short of acknowledging it fired at a Russian transport plane.
The 50-mile distance from Liptsy to the crash site would be beyond most Ukrainian ground-to-air missile systems. A Ukrainian defense intelligence official did confirm that a prisoner exchange had been due to happen on Wednesday, but did not acknowledge knowing the logistical details of the Russian side of the swap. Another Ukrainian military source was quoted as claiming that the plane was carrying Russian missiles, not prisoners.
So one question is whether the Ukrainians were indeed aware of the timing and route of the aircraft that the Russians say was bringing prisoners to the site of the exchange, and additionally whether that information would have been conveyed to front-line units across the border from Belgorod.
But there are already other ramifications from this disaster.
Andrey Kartapolov, who is chairman of the Duma Defense Committee in Moscow, made a significant allegation in claiming that the missiles fired were from US-made Patriot or German-made IRIS-T systems that have been supplied to Ukraine, without offering any evidence. Ukraine has pledged not to use foreign-donated weapons to attack Russian territory and this would have been a highly significant departure from that policy. In any case, the IRIS-T would not have had the range to hit the Ilyushin from the nearest Ukrainian-held territory. A Patriot deployed (at considerable risk) so close to the border with Russia would have been within range of the plane.
Some observers are also pointing out that Russian missile defenses in the area were on high alert Wednesday, and that a Ukrainian drone had been brought down shortly before the plane crashed. However, the governor of Belgorod said that had happened in a location to the west of the city, which would put it at least 37 miles (60 kilometers) from the site where the Ilyushin crashed.
Another puzzling element is that according to the Russian version of events, the Ukrainian PoWs were guarded by just three Russian personnel on board the plane (besides the crew.) A former Ukrainian PoW, Maksym Kolesnikov, said Wednesday in a post on X that when he had been transported by plane from Bryansk to Belgorod, there were about 20 military police for 50 prisoners.
So this disaster already has multiple political dimensions and as yet a lot of unanswered questions. It has quickly become another episode in the information war that has been a constant in this conflict.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said Wednesday that “information warfare is no less important than fighting at the front… The enemy is insidious. We all know what terrible methods Russia can use to destabilize Ukrainian society.”
Indeed the Russian Defense Ministry in its statement said that “by committing this terrorist attack, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true colors – it neglected the lives of its citizens.“
It’s worth recalling that Russia alleged that Ukraine killed its own prisoners of war in a strike on a camp in Olenivka in Donetsk 18 months ago, a claim that after extensive forensic investigation looked extremely dubious.
Then, as most likely in this instance, no independent on-the-ground analysis was possible.
But a large Russian military aircraft without anti-missile defenses approaching Belgorod – itself a frequent target of Ukrainian drones – would have been a tempting and valuable target for Ukraine.
It would therefore have been a flight of considerable risk – unless the Ukrainians had been notified of its purpose, as the Russians have claimed. On the whole, Russian Il-76 aircraft stay well beyond the range of Ukrainian missiles; this would be the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago that one of them has been shot down.
But the Ukrainians have extended the range and frequency of their attacks into Russia, using drones, missiles and sabotage. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian military claimed to have shot down one of the Russians’ most advanced early detection aircraft, the A-50, over the Sea of Azov. There’s been no visual evidence of the wreckage, and the Russian Defense Ministry has not responded to the claim. Some analysts believe that the Ukrainians may have repurposed a Patriot battery to carry out that attack, but there has been no confirmation. Patriot missiles generally have a range of just under 100 miles.
For Ukraine, at a time when the battlefield is in stalemate and there are few victories to celebrate, attacking Russian bases, ships, aircraft and infrastructure well beyond the border has become a different way to disrupt the enemy’s military machine.
But if evidence emerges to confirm the version of events being offered up by the Russian Defense Ministry and others in Moscow, what would have been a coup for Ukrainian air defenses may instead have been a horrendous mistake.
Russia calls for UN Security Council meeting over plane crash in border with Ukraine.
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon at the request of Moscow, which has accused Kyiv of shooting down a Russian military transport plane near the border with Ukraine on Wednesday.
The Russian military said its radar registered the launch of two missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region which borders the Belgorod region. The ministry did not provide evidence for its claim and Ukraine has said it was looking into it but did not immediately provide any information. Instead, it cautioned against sharing “unverified information.”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia wanted to discuss the circumstances of a plane crash and said the full facts were still being verified:
“Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to carry out the next exchange agreed between Moscow and Kyiv. Instead of this exchange taking place, the Ukrainian side attacked this plane with anti-aircraft missiles from the Kharkiv region, which became fatal.”
Since Russia's invasion almost two years ago, Moscow and Kyiv have traded conflicting accusations, and establishing the facts has often been difficult, both because of the constraints of a war zone and because each side tightly controls information.
Lavrov also stated that Russia was not concerned if foreign media didn't believe the details surrounding the crash and added that Russia had nothing to discuss with the United States.
He also called speculation that Russia intended to attack Europe "nonsense."
Videos of the crash posted on social media showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a massive ball of fire erupting where it supposedly hit the ground.
Firefighters, ambulances and police rushed to the site in the Korochansky district of Belgorod, state news agency Tass reported, citing a local emergency services official.
The Russian military said the POWs were being flown to the region for a prisoner swap when the plane was downed at 11:15 am local time (8:15 am GMT).
The Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman, Andrii Yusov, confirmed that a prisoner swap was to happen Wednesday but was not going ahead. He said the agency is checking whether Ukrainian POWs were on the plane.
The plane was headed to the Belgorod region from the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region, and the POW swap was scheduled to take place at the Kolotilovka crossing on the Russian-Ukrainian border, the statement read. The crossing is about 135 kilometres west of the village of Yablonovo, near where the plane fell.
Further prisoner swaps hang in the balance
Russian officials and lawmakers expressed outrage and questioned whether there should be further prisoner swaps. The most recent one, brokered by the United Arab Emirates, took place this month and was the biggest to date, with 230 Ukrainian POWs returning home and 248 Russians released. It was the first in almost five months and 49th since the war began.
Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Russia’s Belgorod region have long been the focus of the fighting, especially involving airstrikes with missiles and drones.
Russia has largely ensured its air dominance during the war against Ukraine's fleet of Soviet-era warplanes. But Russia has suffered a series of crashes that some observers have attributed to a higher number of flights amid the fighting in Ukraine.
At the same time, Kyiv has boasted of shooting down two Russian command and control planes, which would be a major feat for Ukraine if true. Cross-border attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region also have increased, with the deadliest one killing 25 people in December.
Shortly before the crash, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel that a “missile alert” had been triggered in the region and urged residents to take shelter.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said it was looking into the crash but did not immediately provide any information. Instead, it cautioned against sharing “unverified information.”
“We emphasise that the enemy is actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilising Ukrainian society,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
The Russian Defence Ministry said a special military commission was headed to the crash site.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on his call with reporters that he could not comment on the crash because he did not have enough information about it.
The Il-76 is designed to carry up to 225 troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons, according to Russia's military export agency.
The war's 1,500-kilometre front line has been largely static amid a second winter of fighting. As both sides seek to replenish their weapons stockpiles, the war recently has focused on long-range strikes.
Also on Wednesday, the Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down four Ukrainian drones in the Oryol region of western Russia. Oryol Mayor Yuri Parakhin said that several drones were downed over the city with no casualties.
Another Ukrainian drone was downed early Wednesday over the Belgorod border region, according to Gladkov. He said there were no casualties or damage.
Ukraine’s allies have promised more military aid even though their resources are stretched. Help from the United States, by far Ukraine’s single biggest provider, has also hit political snags.
The German Defence Ministry said Wednesday it plans to send six Sea King Mk41 helicopters to Ukraine.
Russia accuses Ukraine of shooting down plane carrying POWs
Russia's Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine on Wednesday of shooting down a military aircraft that was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war over Russia's western Belgorod region, killing everyone on board. The claim about what downed the II-76 aircraft could not be independently confirmed, but the ministry said Russian radar systems had detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles that struck the plane.
Ukrainian officials warned against sharing unverified information, with the country's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War issuing a statement saying, "the enemy is actively conducting information special operations against Ukraine aimed at destabilizing Ukrainian society."
In a statement issued later Wednesday, Ukraine's Armed Forces did not refer to the plane crash in Belgorod specifically, but it acknowledged a recent "intensity of shelling" in the region that it called a direct response to "an increase in the number of [Russian] military transport planes that have recently been heading to the Belgorod airfield," which it said were linked to logistics for Russia's ongoing missile strikes in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said it would "continue to take measures to destroy means of delivery, [and to] control the airspace to destroy the terrorist threat" presented by Russia.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said the plane had been carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war from Chkalovsky, near Moscow, to Belgorod for a prisoner swap. Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency said 65 POWs had been on the plane, along with six crew members and three people accompanying the prisoners.
A U.S. official told CBS News there were no immediate indications that a missile fired from Ukraine had struck the plane, and that it remained unclear whether there were Ukrainians on board the aircraft.
"We currently do not have reliable or comprehensive information on who was on board the plane or in what number," Ukraine's national intelligence directorate said in a statement, according to the French news agency AFP. It confirmed that a "prisoner exchange was supposed to take place" Wednesday, but said "Ukraine was not informed about the number of vehicles, routes and forms of delivery of prisoners."
"It is known that prisoners are delivered by air, rail and road. This may indicate deliberate actions by Russia aimed at endangering the lives and safety of prisoners," the directorate said in its statement, adding that Ukraine "was not informed about the need to ensure the security of the airspace in the area around the city of Belgorod at a set time, as has been done many times in the past."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in New York for meetings at the United Nations, called Wednesday for an immediate emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the crash in Belgorod, which he called a "Ukrainian criminal act."
"On the morning of January 24, Moscow time, a terrorist attack was conducted. As a result in the Belgorod region Russian transport aircraft IL-76 was downed. It was supposed to transport from the Moscow region to Belgorod 65 military servicemen armed forces of Ukraine. They were accompanied by three Russian officers and the crew of six people. All of them died," Lavrov said. "The Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to conduct yet another swap that was agreed between Moscow and Kyiv."
Amateur video posted on social media and verified by CBS News' partner network BBC News as authentic showed the plane falling from the sky and then a huge ball of flames erupting where it hit the ground. A small puff of smoke was visible in the sky where the plane had been spotted before crashing.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said a special military commission was on its way to the site of the crash.
"So far, the only suggestion that there were Ukrainians on board comes from the Russian Ministry of Defense, which usually serves as an indicator that the opposite is true," Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow for the Russia and Eurasia program at London's Chatham House thinktank, said in a statement. "Russia controls the crash site — and has every opportunity to fabricate evidence to support its story. Missile fragments and other 'evidence' can easily be introduced to show to journalists... In summary, Russia holds all the cards for turning a serious military setback locally into a propaganda victory worldwide."
There have been a number of Russian military plane crashes recently, which some analysts have suggested is due to an increased number of flights amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to the AP.
Belgorod governor Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone had been shot down in the area earlier Wednesday, but there were no casualties and no damage caused. It was the latest in what appears to be a move by Ukraine to extend its attacks inside Russia ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said previously that Ukraine's military would conduct more strikes on the border region this year, in part to unnerve Russians ahead of the upcoming March 17 presidential election in the country. President Vladimir Putin is set to run again, virtually unchallenged after a years-long crackdown on all forms of dissent.
- Questions and Answers
- Opinion
- Story/Motivational/Inspiring
- Technology
- Art
- Causes
- Crafts
- Dance
- Drinks
- Film/Movie
- Fitness
- Food
- Games
- Gardening
- Health
- Home
- Literature
- Music
- Networking
- Other
- Party
- Religion
- Shopping
- Sports
- Theater
- Wellness
- News
- Culture
- War machines and policy