February 2, 2024
Ukraine says Russia is refusing to return bodies of plane crash victims
Russia has repeatedly refused Ukrainian requests to hand over the bodies of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) allegedly killed when a Russian military transport plane was downed by a missile, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official.
Moscow and Kyiv have traded accusations over the January 24 crash, with the Kremlin accusing Ukraine of killing its own men, suggestions which Ukraine has dismissed as “rampant Russian propaganda.” Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed the Il-76 transport plane, and Russia’s claim that the crash killed Ukrainian POWs couldn’t be independently verified.
Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence, claimed that some of the Ukrainian POWs who were meant to be part of a prisoner exchange on the day of the plane crash were swapped on Wednesday this week when about 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home — thus casting doubt on Russian claims.
Yusov reiterated Ukraine’s call for an international probe into the incident to determine whether the cargo plane carried weapons or passengers along with the crew.
Most western intelligence assessments agree that the plane was likely shot down by a Ukrainian missile, with one anonymous French official telling the Associated Press that Patriot surface-to-air missiles were used, the battery turning on its radar “just long enough to hit them.” But there has still been no confirmation that POWs were onboard the plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied that the Kremlin had received any Ukrainian request to hand over the bodies. He told the state news agency RIA Novosti on Friday any such request would be considered by Russian law enforcement once an official probe is completed.,
He also said Russia would “insist” on an international inquiry into what he called a Ukrainian “crime.”
