First public statement after the incident… “Ukraine air defense missile”
“We will disclose the results of the investigation, including the black box, as much as possible.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the downing of a transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners was caused by an attack on Ukraine, and that it was a crime whether intentional or accidental.
According to the Associated Press on the 26th (local time), President Putin said at an event held in St. Petersburg that day, “Ukraine attacked this plane even though it knew (the prisoners were on board).”
President Putin said, “I don’t know if they did it on purpose or inadvertently by mistake,” and put the blame on Ukraine, saying, “In any case, this incident is a crime.”
He claimed that the weapons confiscated at the scene of the transport plane crash were presumed to be air defense missiles, saying, “This means that the Ukrainian military is not properly trained or does not properly control the system.”
At the same time, he emphasized, “Our air defense system cannot attack its own aircraft due to its system,” and “Under no circumstances can it be ‘friendly fire’ as Ukraine claims.”
He also said that he was investigating by securing the transport aircraft flight recorder and that he would make the results public.
“There is a black box, and now everything will be collected and made public,” President Putin said. “We will disclose to the Investigative Committee all the circumstances surrounding this crime to the greatest extent possible so that the Ukrainian people know what really happened.”
Earlier, a Russian Il-76 transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners crashed and exploded in a field near the village of Yablonovo, Russia’s Belgorod Korochansky district, about 90 km from the Ukrainian border, on the morning of the 24th.
There were 74 people on board the transport plane, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners, and all of them died.
Russia claimed that the transport plane crashed after being hit by an anti-aircraft missile launched by Ukraine and that Ukraine was aware of the prisoner exchange in advance.
Ukraine said, “The Russian side did not provide any information about the transport plane or request flight safety, as is usual in prisoner exchanges,” and raised the possibility that the Russian military may have accidentally hit the transport aircraft while trying to shoot down a Ukrainian drone.
Ukraine plans to demand an international investigation involving the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.