“Ukraine has appealed and continues to appeal about the transfer of bodies,” he said.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on January 24, Ukrainian troops hit a Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft with captured Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel over the Belgorod region using an anti-aircraft missile system. On board were six crew members, 65 military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the exchange and three Russian military personnel accompanying them. They all died.
The Investigative Committee found out that the anti-aircraft missile weapons from which the attack was carried out were located in the village of Liptsy, Kharkov region. During the investigation, it became known that the plane was shot down by the American Patriot system. In particular, the research helped to establish that traces of hexogen with impurities of up to 10% octogen were found in the washes from the found elements, which is typical for foreign-made explosives.
The remains of the victims have already been identified, more than 670 fragments of bodies were found at the crash site, and partially preserved personal documents were also confiscated.
As President Vladimir Putin emphasized, Russia insists on conducting an international investigation into what happened. At the same time, the Kremlin noted that Western countries refuse to take part in such an investigation because they are afraid of “exposing themselves.”