Il-76 crash: Russians and Ukrainians accuse each other before the UN
Russia and Ukraine blamed each other on Thursday at a meeting of the UN Security Council after the crash of a Russian military plane near the Ukrainian border the day before.
“All the information we have today shows that we are dealing with a premeditated and well-thought-out crime”declared the deputy Russian ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, whose country had requested this emergency meeting.
Moscow accuses kyiv of knowingly shooting down the aircraft which, according to Russian authorities, was transporting 65 Ukrainian prisoners to be exchanged. Ukrainian authorities “knew the way very well [aérienne] for the transport of soldiers to the exchange zone »assured Dmitry Polyanskiy.
This was not the first exchange of this type, but “this time, for some inexplicable reason, the kyiv regime decided to sabotage the procedure in the most barbaric way”he added, accusing the Ukrainians of being “ready to sacrifice their own citizens for the geopolitical interests of the West”. “It was only thanks to the heroism of the pilots who deviated from residential areas at the last moment that no one on the ground suffered”he assured.
“Ukraine was not informed of the number of vehicles, routes and means of transport of the captives. This alone could represent an intentional act by Russia to endanger the lives and safety of prisoners.”, replied the deputy Ukrainian ambassador, Khrystyna Hayovyshyn. Russian prisoners “were transferred to the decided location and were waiting safely for the exchange. The Russians were supposed to provide the same level of security for captured Ukrainian soldiers”she insisted.
“If reports that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board were confirmed, it would be another blatant violation of international humanitarian law by Russia, with the first case of the use of human shields in the air to cover the transport of missiles »she assured.
Ukraine’s allies, for their part, insisted that without Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nothing would have happened. “Russia repeatedly attempts to shift blame for the tragedies of this chosen and senseless war, as if it were the victim and not the aggressor”launched Deputy American Ambassador Robert Wood.
“Instead of calling meetings to seek to reverse the order of responsibilities, [la Russie] should act (…) and withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory”pleaded the French ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, noting however that he was “important to shed light on these events”.