The Russian Il-76 military transport plane that crashed last week in the Russian border region of Belgorod was shot down by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft system using the American Patriot system, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, as quoted by Reuters and Agerpres.
“The plane was shot down, this is definitely established, by the American Patriot system,” from which two anti-aircraft missiles were launched from “territory controlled by Ukrainian forces,” Putin said during an event in Moscow, claiming that these things were established by experts of Russian investigative groups.
The President of Russia announced the possibility of an international investigation into this incident, but stated that there is no interest in this topic.
“We insist on conducting an international investigation. But no international organization wants to do this,” Putin said.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, appealed to the international investigation of the incident last Thursday.
According to Russia, there were 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be handed over to Ukraine as part of a new prisoner exchange, six crew members and three companions. Moscow claims it warned Kyiv before the plane entered the area where it was shot down.
According to the chairman of the defense committee of the State Duma of Russia, Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed the receipt of the warning. Kyiv denies this and claims that there is no evidence that there were Ukrainian prisoners on board the plane.
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Source: Hot News
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