Ukrainian president's response to crash of Il-76 aircraft with prisoners

25.01.2024, 12:10 apostrophe.ua

Ukraine will insist on an international investigation of the crash of Russian Il-76, which Russians claim had Ukrainian prisoners on board.

This is stated in a public video message of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He noted that he received a report from the Heads of the power bloc on the situation with the aircraft and the exchange.

"The 700th day of this war is a very difficult day. First. Called Umerov, Zaluzhny, Shaptala, Budanov and Malyuk. They reported on the situation with the plane and the exchange. It is obvious that Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of relatives and with the emotions of our society," the Head of State emphasized.

At the same time, he noted that it was necessary to establish all the clear facts as far as possible, given that the plane crashed on Russian territory, beyond Ukraine's control. Now Ukrainian intelligence is engaged in finding out the fate of the captives, and the Security Service is investigating all the circumstances.

"Facts" is the main word right now. I listened to the Commander-in-Chief of the AFU and the General Staff about the use of the Air Force... And I instructed the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to inform partners about the available data in Ukraine. Our state will insist on an international investigation," - added Volodymyr Zelensky.

We shall remind you that a prisoner exchange was planned for January 24, which did not take place. According to the Russian side's version, this happened as a result of the shooting down of Russian Il-76 airсraft that was allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners.