IL-79 crash: Budanov says whether there were Ukrainian war-prisoners on board

Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said that neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian side can fully answer the question of what happened to the IL-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia on January 24.

During the TV marathon, the DIU chief said: "Unfortunately, we need to state what happened there - neither side can fully answer. Russia's position is, of course, to blame Ukraine for everything, despite the fact that there are a number of facts that are incomprehensible for such a position."

"First of all, they did not show the fields covered with corpses and remains, as they should have done to accuse Ukraine as much as possible, but even this is not available. That is, the situation is not clear to the end," Budanov added.

According to him, Ukraine also does not have complete information about what happened. It is also unknown whether there could have been Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the downed plane.

"They (the Russians - Ed.) did not show the fields covered with corpses and remains, as they should have done to accuse Ukraine as much as possible, but even this is not available. That is, the situation is not clear to the end," the intelligence chief summarized.

As a reminder, on Wednesday, January 24, an Il-76 military transport plane crashed near the Russian city of Belgorod. The Russians said that there were 65 Ukrainian servicemen on board.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that on January 24, it was planned to exchange 65 Ukrainian defenders whose names were published by Russian propagandists after the crash of the IL-76.

The other day, Slidkom published a video of an airplane on a snowy airfield and a convoy of cars approaching it. The footage shows the movement of cars and people, but it is impossible to make out whether people are boarding the plane.

Also, the Russian Investigative Committee's report does not provide evidence that the footage shows the departure of the Ukrainian military.

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