Currently, Ukraine does not have reliable and comprehensive information about who was on board the russian Il-76 plane and in what number.
The Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported this on Wednesday, January 24.
Today, there was to be an exchange of prisoners, which did not take place allegedly due to the downing of a russian Il-76 plane, as the aggressor state of the russian federation said. Ukraine, for its part, has fulfilled all the agreements for the preparation of the exchange and delivered russian prisoners to the agreed safe spot.
"At the moment, we do not have reliable and comprehensive information about who exactly was on board the plane and in what number. The security of our Defenders, according to the agreements, had to be ensured by the russian side. At the same time, the Ukrainian side was not aware of the need to ensure the security of airspace in the area of the city of Belgorod in a certain period of time, as has been done many times in the past.
Ukraine was not informed about the number of vehicles, routes and forms of delivery of prisoners. It is known that the delivery of prisoners takes place both by air, rail and road," the statement said.
The Defense Intelligence notes that such actions may indicate deliberate actions of the russian federation to pose threats to the life and safety of prisoners. Landing a transport aircraft in a 30-kilometer combat zone cannot be safe and in any case should be discussed by both parties, since it endangers all participants in the process, the intelligence notes: "Based on this, we can talk about planned and deliberate actions of the russian federation in order to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and weaken the international support of our state," the Defense Intelligence said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on the morning of February 24, residents of the Belgorod Region of the aggressor state of russia announced the crash of an aircraft.
Mikhail Podoliak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President, said that Ukraine will provide official comments after receiving the necessary information.
On January 24, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made an official statement on russian aggression and defending Ukrainians against the enemy threats from the sky.
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