Vladimir Putin has accused Kiev of shooting down a Russian transport plane carrying dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, claiming it used French or American missiles in the attack.
The Russian president tonight broke his silence on Wednesday’s fireball crash, which Moscow said resulted in the deaths of 74 people, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers.
“I don’t know if they did it on purpose or accidentally, but it is clear they did it,” Putin said in televised comments. “Regardless, what happened is a crime. Either negligently or deliberately, but either way it is a crime.”
The Ilyushin Il-76 plane fell from the sky in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border, and video shared by Russian media appeared to show a huge fireball erupting.
Ukraine has not confirmed or denied shooting down the plane and has disputed Moscow’s statement, accusing it of doing so making up the story of the tragedy as a propaganda stunt.
Vladimir Putin has accused Kiev of shooting down a Russian transport plane with dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war on board
Russia claims there were about 74 people on board, including more than 60 Ukrainian prisoners of war and Russian airline crew
Putin said the plane could not be brought down by Russian “friendly fire” because Russian air defense systems have safeguards in place to prevent them from attacking their own planes.
“There are ‘friend or foe’ systems there, and no matter how many times the operator pressed the button, our air defense systems wouldn’t work,” he said.
He added that the results of the Russian investigation would be published within two to three days, but that preliminary evidence suggests the missiles that downed the plane were American or French.
It comes after Ukrainian officials rejected the Kremlin’s claims the plane was empty when it was shotapart from the Russian crew members.
The Mail understands that Western security officials share the Ukrainians’ suspicions about who was or was not on board the plane.
One aspect of Moscow’s story that appears bogus concerns the publication of so-called passenger lists.
There was also suspicion about the contents of video footage taken from the crash site in western Russia, which showed a small amount of human remains.
Within hours of Wednesday’s crash, Russian media shared lists of who was believed to have been on board the plane when it was shot down.
But Ukraine said some of those named had actually been repatriated as part of previous POW exchanges.
An investigator from the Russian Intelligence Committee is investigating the crash site where an Il-76 transport plane crashed earlier this week
Moscow has accused Ukraine of killing more than 60 Ukrainian prisoners of war; Ukraine has not denied shooting down the plane but has accused Russia of faking the deaths of prisoners of war
A video released by Russia’s Investigative Committee showed a block of twisted metal and wires and some human remains of one or two people. No other human remains were shown.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said: “We found Ukrainian citizens on the list who have already been exchanged.
“And if there were photos and videos of our POWs (at the crash site), Russia would have already posted them.
“There are no signs that there were that many people on the plane.”
Lubinets added that he was “very surprised” at how quickly Russia responded publicly to the crash.
He has called for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to be allowed to inspect the crash site.
The ICRC did not respond to Kiev’s request, but did call the reports about the crash ‘worrying’ in a statement to the AFP news agency.
“We will make no comments or speculation at this stage until the facts have been established,” the report said.
The Mail was also told that the Ilyushin II-76 aircraft had been used to deliver Iranian missiles.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Yusov said Russian aid workers were prohibited from inspecting the crash site near Yablonovo.
Only five bodies were recovered from the wreckage. The remains of the pilot and crew members were taken to a nearby morgue, he said.
Within hours of Wednesday’s crash, Russian media shared lists of who was believed to have been on board the plane when it was shot down.
But Ukraine said some of those named had actually been repatriated as part of previous POW exchanges.