A Russian military transport aircraft of the Ilyushin-76 model has crashed in Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, reports Reuters.
A Russian politician tells the news agency that the plane was shot down.
In recent months, the Belgorod region has been under intense shelling, and according to TT, air raid sirens sounded nearby before the information about the crash came.
Contradictory information
Russia's Defense Ministry says 74 people were on board, 65 of whom were reportedly Ukrainian prisoners of war on their way to a prisoner exchange.
According to the local governor, all died on board, reports Reuters.
If the information is correct, it is the largest number of POWs killed in a single attack since Russia's full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian newspaper Pravda, on the other hand, writes that the plane must have been loaded with robots, and refers to unconfirmed source information from the Ukrainian military, which is consistent with similar information to state-run Ukrinform.
A Russian aircraft of the allegedly downed model Ilyushin Il-76, here at an exhibition in Dubai in November.
Photo: AP
Withdrawn source data
Initially, Pravda also published information that Ukraine must have been behind the shooting.
These have now been retracted by the newspaper, which says they do not match other sources.
- At the moment, it seems completely impossible to prove whether it is true that they are Ukrainian prisoners of war or whether there have been robots on board, says Markus Göransson, lecturer in military science at the Norwegian Defense Academy, to TT.
Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident, and no information about what was on the plane or why it crashed could be independently verified.