Budanov on downing of IL-76 near Belgorod: No one saw bodies, Russia is hiding certain circumstances
There is currently no new information on the alleged presence of Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Russian Il-76 aircraft that crashed in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation in late January
The head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, said this during a national telethon, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.
"So far, no one has seen the bodies. This again brings us back to the same question: who was there, in what number, were they there at all, and what really happened? When Russia says it's obvious that Ukraine shot down the plane, and then doesn't allow anyone to come and show the wreckage or the bodies, which should have been shown to prove to the world that Ukraine is guilty. But this is not the case," he said.
According to Budanov, everything that was known remains so.
"There are no bodies, no international experts, no investigators... It is obvious that the Russian Federation is hiding certain circumstances," he said.
IL-76 crash in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation
On 24 January, an IL-76 aircraft used to transport equipment and troops crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia.
Russian media reported that the plane was allegedly carrying mostly Ukrainian prisoners of war, all of whom died.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed the information that a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine was to take place on 24 January. Later, DIU spokesman Andriy Yusov clarified that the exchange was to be the largest since the full-scale Russian invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would insist on an international investigation into the situation with the plane and the prisoner exchange.
The SSU opened an investigation into the downing of the IL-76 in the Belgorod region.
Neither the UN nor the US can establish whether there were any Ukrainian prisoners of war on board.
Lubinets later said that Russia was not allowing international experts to participate in the investigation, and the ICRC did not request such access.
In early February, a representative of the Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andrii Yusov, saidthat Ukraine had asked Russia to return the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly died as a result of the downing of an Il-76 aircraft in the Belgorod region. Russia has not yet responded to these requests. And now, former NSDC Secretary Oleksii Danilov has stated that there were definitely no Ukrainian prisoners of war on the IL-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation.
