In the Belgorod region, as a result of a terrorist attack by the troops of the Kyiv regime, an Il-76 military transport plane carrying captured military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces crashed.

This was reported to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“Today at 11:15 a.m. the Kyiv regime committed a terrorist act, as a result of which a Russian military transport aircraft was shot down, flying on the route Chkalovsky airfield - Belgorod to transport Ukrainian military personnel for exchange.

The plane was destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the area of ​​Liptsy, Kharkov Region, using an anti-aircraft missile system.

The radar equipment of the Russian Aerospace Forces observed the launch of two Ukrainian missiles,” the report says.

According to the department, there were six crew members on board, 65 Ukrainian military personnel for exchange and three Russian military personnel accompanying them.

They all died.

  • Statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense

The Russian Ministry of Defense emphasized that “the Ukrainian leadership knew very well” that the transportation of prisoners of war for exchange would be carried out by a military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield.

The exchange was planned for the afternoon at the Kolotilovka checkpoint.

“And yet, the Nazi Kiev regime took this step, pursuing the goal of blaming Russia for the destruction of the Ukrainian military.

By committing this terrorist attack, the Ukrainian leadership showed its true colors - it neglected the lives of its citizens,” the Russian Ministry of Defense concluded.

  • RT

As RT's source in the emergency services previously reported, the plane crashed in the Korochansky district of the Belgorod region.

According to a local resident, the Il-76 plane crashed in a field, about 2-3 km from the road.

The place there is deserted, knee-deep snow, there are no houses nearby.

“We heard an explosion and thought that the drone had been shot down,” added RT’s interlocutor.

In turn, a resident of the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region told RT that she saw the moment the plane crashed into a field.

“We saw the falling plane from the house, through the window.

One bang and smoke in the sky, we didn’t see much else.

He fell behind us in another village, in a field.

Our situation is calm,” the woman said.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, also spoke about the incident in his Telegram channel.

“A transport plane crashed in the Korochansky district.

He fell in a field near a populated area.

Everyone on board died,” he wrote.

At the same time, the head of the region reported at 11:12 Moscow time that a missile alert had been launched in Belgorod.

The missile alert was canceled after 31 minutes.

An RT correspondent reported from the scene that sirens in Belgorod were heard literally from everywhere, and television broadcasting was interrupted.

According to him, in the city every day a siren sounds periodically several times; when the window is closed, it is faintly audible.

This time, when the siren went off, the hotel's fire alarm went off and everyone was asked to go down to the shelter.

“After about five minutes it all stopped.

There was no serious explosion heard in the center of Belgorod,” said the RT correspondent.

“They must realize their responsibility”

Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, during a meeting of the lower house of parliament, emphasized that Ukrainian troops “shot with American and German missiles” their own soldiers, for whom “their mothers, wives, children” were waiting at home.

According to him, Russian pilots carrying out a humanitarian mission came under attack.

In this regard, he suggested that the deputies prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the German Bundestag in connection with the actions of the troops of the Kyiv regime.

“Let's prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the German Bundestag so that the deputies can finally see who they are funding.

This is the Nazi regime, nurtured by Biden, Macron, Scholz, and other politicians.

They must realize their responsibility, and members of parliament must impeach them,” he said.

  • Volodin instructed to prepare an appeal to Congress and the Bundestag due to the crash of the Il-76

The editor-in-chief of RT and MIA Rossiya Segodnya, Margarita Simonyan, also commented on the Il-76 crash.

“The plane and crew are ours.

The prisoners are theirs.

They shot it down.

The rest of the information is from the evil one,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.

At the same time, the Ukrainian media, which initially, citing sources in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian air defense forces, began to delete or edit this information after Russia reported that there were captured Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen on board.