A prominent politician in Russia stated that Ukrainian military intelligence had been provided with a fifteen-minute notice before the entry of a Russian military transport plane transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war into the region where it was shot down on Wednesday.
Ukraine is accused by Russia of bringing down the plane, which resulted in the deaths of all 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian soldiers who were taken when they were on their way to a Russian prisoner-of-war exchange. The statement made by Russia has not been confirmed or rejected by Ukraine; nonetheless, Ukraine has urged that an international investigation be conducted.
Andrei Kartapolov is quoted as saying to his fellow lawmakers, “The Ukrainian side was officially warned, and 15 minutes before the plane entered the zone, they were given complete information, which they received, and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed receipt of,” according to the United Russia party, which is the ruling party.
“We all know very well what happened next,” Kartapolov, a former general who has close ties to the ministry of military and who currently serves as the head of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, said.
His declaration was in direct opposition to a statement made by Ukrainian military intelligence, which stated that Russia had not furnished them with information regarding the flight plans.
The battle, which is now getting close to the conclusion of its second year, is characterised by the everyday presence of conflicting narratives from both sides. However, the stakes are extremely high in respect to the catastrophe that occurred on Wednesday, which was the bloodiest of its sort to take place on Russia’s own soil that is known across the world community.
The downing of the Ilyushin-76 military transport plane in the Belgorod region in Russia’s southwestern region, which is close to the border with Ukraine, has been portrayed by Moscow as a “terrorist act” committed by the Ukrainian government.
The investigation
On Wednesday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused Russia of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners” and stated that there was a need for more clarity regarding what had occurred, particularly with regard to the individuals who were on board.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ombudsman of Ukraine, reaffirmed his request for an international investigation on Thursday. He urged for an investigation to be conducted.
When it comes to conducting an investigation on a global scale, I am confident that we will do everything in our power to make it happen. On the other hand, I am certain that… the Russians will make loud comments, but they will not let anyone in. According to Lubinets, who spoke to national media, “They will not hand over any materials for analysis and will simply blame Ukraine.”
Russia is the only country that can access the crash scene, where television images showed debris strewn across frozen fields. It was reported by the state-run news outlet TASS that the black boxes of the jet had been retrieved and would be transported to Moscow for analysis at a laboratory belonging to the Ministry of Defence.
The GUR military intelligence agency of Ukraine acknowledged on Wednesday that a prisoner of war swap was scheduled to take place, but stated that it had not been informed of the manner in which Russia would transport the inmates to the point where they would be handed over.
It was also stated that Ukraine had not been requested to secure the security of the airspace near Belgorod, which is in contrast to the arrangements that were made for prior swaps.
The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to meet on Thursday at 2200 GMT in response to a request from Russia for a meeting to determine “the reasons behind the criminal act committed by the Ukrainian government.”
