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The Russian president added that the plane was shot down from “territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.”
The Il-76 military plane which crashed last week in Russia with, according to Moscow, Ukrainian prisoners on board, has been shot down “for sure” with the help of’“an American Patriot system”President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, January 31.
“The plane was shot down, this has already been established with certainty, by an American Patriot system” shot from “the territory controlled by Ukrainian forces”declared Vladimir Putin at an event in Moscow. “The fact that they shot down a plane where their soldiers were, allows us to assume that they did it accidentally. But it’s still a crime.”he continued, believing that kyiv wanted “to provoke” Russia “to answer”.
Many questions remain a week after the crash of a Russian military plane near the border with Ukraine. Russia assures that the Ukrainian army shot down the plane carrying 74 people, including, according to Moscow, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were going to be exchanged.
“International investigation”
But at this stage, Russian authorities have not provided evidence establishing with certainty that Ukrainian prisoners of war were there and that kyiv knew it, as Moscow claims. Ukraine, for its part, has not directly commented on its potential involvement in the incident and has expressed doubts about the presence of its soldiers on board.
The authorities in kyiv, however, confirmed that an exchange of prisoners was planned on the day of the crash, and ultimately did not take place. Volodymyr Zelensky also called for the opening of an international investigation. “We demand and insist that there be an international investigation”, said Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. But “there are no international organizations willing to do it”he assured.
Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow and kyiv announced that they had exchanged around 200 prisoners of war from each side, despite tensions over the crash of the Russian military plane. “We will not stop trade. We have our own men to bring back”justified the Russian president.
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