Russian investigators said Thursday they have evidence that the Ukrainian military shot down a Russian Il-76 jet last week with American Patriot surface-to-air missiles.

Russia presented what would be the remains of an Il-76 aircraftPhoto: Investigative Committee of Russia / AP / Profimedia

Russia has repeatedly stated that Ukraine shot down the Ilyushin liner on January 24 with 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners who, according to Moscow, were to be exchanged. All who were on the plane died.

Kyiv did not confirm or deny the downing of the plane, but denied the details of Moscow’s version and called for an international investigation.

According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, the Ukrainian military from Lyptsi, Kharkiv Oblast, fired two rockets in the direction of the plane, Reuters and Agerpres news agencies report.

“The following inscriptions were found on the lifted fragments: ‘ASSY 11455748’, ‘SN740179’, ‘ASSY 11461343’, ‘SN740206’, ‘ASSY 11461865’, ‘SN740207’, ‘Raytheon’, ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ PATRIOT SECURITY CLASSIFICATION GUIDE. DATE: 9/22/83 APPENDIX 11/28/83 8/8/84 CONTRACT #/DAAH01-86C-A018′,” said a statement from the Investigative Committee, which also released a short film of investigators examining missile debris on the ground at an undisclosed location.

“The fragments removed from the site, according to the structural and geometric features and existing markings, are elements of the design of the MIM-104A guided anti-aircraft missile of the USA Patriot complex, developed by the Raytheon and Hughes corporations and manufactured by the Raytheon company,” the Russian committee notes.

Ukraine has not yet commented on these statements, Reuters notes.

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