High-ranking Russian officials were supposed to be on board of the Il-76 plane that crashed On January 24, in the Belogorodsky district, but the FSB at the “last moment” did not allow them on board, the spokesman of the military intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Yusov, told Radio Svoboda. Independent Kyiv.

It will be recalled that the Il-76 transport plane crashed on January 24 in the Belgorod region, then the Ministry of Defense of Russia claimed that 65 Ukrainian prisoners were on board for the planned exchange of prisoners on the same day.

Ukrainian military intelligence did not confirm whether there were any prisoners on board, nor did it comment on what might have caused the crash.

However, in its statement on Telegram, the agency reported that the exchange of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war was indeed planned, and that Kyiv fulfilled all the conditions, but Russia did not report the number of planes with prisoners, their routes, and did not ask Kyiv to ensure the safety of the airspace in the Belgorod area.

According to Yusov, according to Ukrainian intelligence, several military and political figures were supposed to be on board, but the FSB ordered them to use other modes of transport.

Yusov noted that the Ukrainian services became aware of this information after the plane crashed.

How many bodies would be taken to the morgue after the crash of the Russian plane

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.

Yusov said the names of the high-ranking officials who were supposed to be on board “are known and will be revealed” as Ukraine plans to present its findings to international investigators.

Lubinets said that he would turn to the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in finding out what happened after President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced on the evening of January 24 that Ukraine would insist on an international investigation into the disaster.

Who were the crew members of the plane that crashed

Journalists of the “Scheme” investigative project have established the names of the crew members of the Russian Il-76 plane that crashed in the morning of January 24 in the Belgorod region of Russia, reports “Ukrainian Pravda”.

They managed to get a list of the six-person crew that was supposed to accompany the flight, verify their positions and affiliation with military aviation.

Relatives confirmed the death of three of them: flight commander Stanislav Bezzubkin, 36 years old, navigator Oleksiy Vysokin, and flight engineer Andriy Piluyev, 38 years old.

The death of the aircraft commander Bezzubkin was confirmed by his wife Marika. Marika reported that she was informed by the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Marika said that she last spoke to her husband around 7:30 a.m. (Russian time), when, she believes, he was due to fly out of Moscow.

Piluyev’s wife reported that she knew about his death, but she had not yet received official detailed information.

Vysokin’s death was confirmed by his cousin. She said she learned about it from his parents.

The photo of another Il-76 crew member, on-board radio operator Ihor Sablinskyi, was accompanied by comments on social networks, where people expressed condolences.

The flight was also believed to have been staffed by flight engineer Serhii Zhitenev and a second-in-command named Chmyrev, but there was no independent confirmation of their deaths until last night.

According to the source of the Russian databases, the place of service of the five crew members is listed as the 117th Military Transport Aviation Regiment. The same information was made public by the Intelligence Service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (SRU) in March 2022. This five will consist of Bezzubkin, Vysokin, Piluev, Zhitenev and Sablinskyi.

Read also:

• Kyiv was warned 15 minutes before the downed plane flew to the Belgorod district, Moscow claims. Black boxes and “rocket debris” were found.