At around 11am local time, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that one of its II-76 transport aircraft crashed in Southern Belgorod.
The Ministry stated that the craft was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew and three others.
The Kyiv Indpendent has stated it is currently not able to verify these claims.
Alternative media, Ukrainska Pravda has claimed that the aircraft was instead carrying S-300 missiles and was shot down by Ukrainian forces.
Fuller video of the IL-76 crash. There appears to be a smoke cloud in the sky at 00:20.
Russian sources immediately proposed a theory that the plane carried Ukrainian P.O.W.s, but so far, there's no indication of that. Ukrainian side says the plane carried S-300 missiles. pic.twitter.com/Er18uMO0Ok
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) January 24, 2024
This is a developing story, more information to follow.
