The Investigative Committee of Russia released video from an airport through its Telegram channel. The footage appears to show Ukrainian prisoners of war boarding an Il-76 aircraft that was shot down in the Belgorod region on January 24. Moscow places responsibility for the crash on the Ukrainian armed forces. In total, 65 Ukrainian soldiers, six crew members, and three accompanying individuals died in the incident.
The video runs for 1 minute and 20 seconds. The camera is distant, resulting in limited clarity. The sequence suggests a convoy of seven vehicles arriving at the runway, with the vehicles advancing toward the aircraft on the tarmac.
Finding the bodies of the dead
That afternoon, investigators located remains at the crash site. Specialists removed the bodies for genetic analysis to aid identification. Identification could be challenging because that DNA must come from the victims’ relatives to be usable in the investigation.
“The Ukrainian side will need to acknowledge the deaths of its citizens, provide DNA collection procedures, and deliver samples for analysis,” stated a spokesman cited by the TASS news service. “Subsequent identification will occur within the investigation’s scope.”
Photographs of some remains reveal tattoos associated with Ukrainian military units, including a reference to the Azov Regiment, which is banned in Russia. These details are taken as indirect evidence that prisoners may have been aboard the plane. Other military documents were found in the vicinity.
On January 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the situation via his Telegram channel, calling for an international investigation into the crash. He noted the need to establish the full facts, given that the crash occurred on Russian territory outside Kyiv’s immediate control. He added that the Main Intelligence Directorate is examining the fate of all detainees.
The Ukrainian government did not publicly confirm involvement in the crash, though initial local reports suggested the plane carried missiles rather than personnel. After the emergence of the prisoner claims, one outlet redacted the related report.
Following the disaster, Margarita Simonyan, head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, published a list of 65 prisoners believed to be aboard. Kyiv replied that some had already been transferred back to Ukraine as part of an exchange. A Kremlin spokesperson later indicated that he was not aware of any official publication listing the dead.
Rocket launch point set
Russian analysts using radar-based airspace monitoring indicated the engagement occurred near the Liptsy area in the Kharkiv region. President Vladimir Putin spoke about the tragedy during a student gathering related to a military operation, stating that the missiles involved point to air defense systems inadvertently engaging the Il-76.
Putin dismissed the idea that the aircraft could have been brought down by friendly fire, arguing that domestic air defense systems are equipped with a friend-or-foe mechanism and typically do not shoot at their own forces. He suggested that the cause might involve foreign-sourced defense systems and said a definitive answer would emerge within a few days. He also noted that Ukrainian intelligence was aware of planned prisoner transfers in the run-up to exchanges.