The list of Ukrainian prisoners of war who were allegedly on board the downed plane published in Russian media contains discrepancies, the Human Rights Commissioner of Ukraine reported to Reuters.

Russian law enforcement officers at the crash site of a military plane, on board of which there were probably Ukrainian prisoners of warPhoto: Pavlo Kolyadin / TASS / Profimedia Images
  • “Yes, we found in the list Ukrainian citizens who were already changed before,” said Dmytro Lubinet.

Military intelligence also revealed details of the exchange of prisoners with Russia, which was planned for January 24, but did not take place after the crash of the Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region of Russia.

  • “The question of transporting prisoners of war for exchange is within the competence of capture. Ukraine took all measures to make yesterday’s exchange possible.
  • Civilian transport of Russian prisoners of war operated on the Sumy front. Everything was ready for the exchange of prisoners of war. The relevant services have been alerted, and a ceasefire has been declared on this front. Border guards and defense forces acted accordingly.
  • Last time, on January 3, when Ukraine returned 230 defenders, Russia also used planes to transport our prisoners. But Ukraine was warned in time, the request for a ceasefire was made because a plane with captured Ukrainians was landing. Ukraine certainly met all the requirements, and the exchange was successful.
  • Regarding the measures that were taken yesterday… The aggressor did not inform us either orally or in writing,” Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine, told Ukrainian Truth.

After the accident, the FSB and the Russian military did not allow employees of the State Emergency Service to conduct a formal inspection of the crash site, Yusov said.

According to him, five bodies were sent to the local Belgorod morgue, and no human remains are visible on the video from the crash site.

Russia claimed that 65 Ukrainian prisoners, six crew members and three companions were on board.

People’s Advocate Dmytro Lubinets also noted that there are “no signs that there were such a large number of people on the plane” in the photos and videos from the scene.

“I’m not an expert, but if there were even photos and videos of our prisoners of war, (Russia) would have already published them,” Lubinet said, referring to photo evidence from the crash site.