The US State Department declined to comment on reports that a Russian Il-76 transport aircraft, which reportedly carried Ukrainian prisoners of war, was brought down by missiles from the Ukrainian Armed Forces using the American Patriot air defense system. During a briefing, Vedant Patel, the deputy chief of the State Department’s press office, acknowledged the information but did not provide a confirmation, signaling that the matter should be addressed by Kyiv, as reported by TASS and others.
The department refrained from confirming the claim that an American-made anti-aircraft missile system was involved, and it directed further inquiries to Ukrainian authorities. Patel emphasized that partners in Ukraine should respond to questions about the incident, a stance that left Washington’s position on the specifics unresolved at that moment, according to notes from multiple wire services including TASS.
The incident involved a military Il-76 aircraft that supposedly fell after being hit by missiles in the Korochansky district of Belgorod region, around 11:00 Moscow time on January 24. On board were 65 Ukrainian personnel who had been captured, along with six crew members and three escorts. The prisoners were reportedly being transported for potential exchange.
The Russian Defense Ministry asserted that the Il-76 was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses operating from the Kharkov region, a claim that has fed into the broader narrative of ongoing exchange efforts and battlefield incidents between the two sides. This attribution contrasts with other accounts circulating through international channels and various state actors, all of which have kept the exact sequence of events under careful scrutiny, per official statements and foreign press reports.
On January 31, President Vladimir Putin reiterated the assertion that the Il-76 was brought down with the help of the Patriot system, a claim that aligns with earlier Russian and Western statements about foreign-supplied air defense capabilities in the conflict. The assertion was echoed in later briefings and has contributed to the polarized discourse surrounding the incident, as noted by observers and multiple news agencies including TASS.
In the days following the crash, Dmitry Peskov, a former spokesperson for the Russian president, acknowledged what some Western commentators described as a willingness by Western governments to engage in a formal inquiry into the crash. This sentiment underscored a broader international interest in clarifying the circumstances of the incident and the roles played by different military actors and equipment suppliers, as reported by various outlets and attributed to official sources.