A State Duma deputy, Sergei Kolunov, asserts that Ukraine will eventually confront the reality that its own forces contributed to the destruction of their army by shooting down a Russian aircraft near Belgorod. After a period of denial, he says, acceptance will follow as a natural progression of events, a view shared on the 360 TV channel.
Kolunov contends that Ukrainian public relations personnel acted hastily in claiming responsibility for the downed plane and then shifted into denial when the situation became clearer. He argues that the communications team did not anticipate the truth about the casualty list that followed.
According to Kolunov, there were 65 Ukrainian servicemen aboard the misfired aircraft who had been moved to the Belgorod region for an exchange. He notes that the Ukrainian media later revised its stance, denying that the downing involved Ukrainian forces and their own personnel. Still, the deputy predicts that Ukraine will ultimately acknowledge the incident as part of the evolving narrative of the event.
The deputy also stressed that Kiev’s actions should not go unanswered because Russian citizens were aboard, including six crew members and three accompanying personnel.
On January 24, the Il-76 aircraft reportedly collapsed in the Korochansky district of the Belgorod region. The Russian Ministry of Defense later confirmed that 65 Ukrainian military personnel who had been transferred to Belgorod for exchange were on board. The ministry stated that the Il-76 was brought down by an anti aircraft missile launched from the Kharkov region, part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that there were no survivors.
Initial reports in Ukrainian press suggested that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were involved in the incident, followed by later revisions of those reports. In the early hours after the crash, officials in Moscow reacted publicly to the developing news.