Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary says no Ukrainian POWs on board crashed Russian Il-76 plane
In an interview, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov stated that there were no Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Russian military Il-76 plane that crashed near Belgorod on January 24.
“I can tell you for certain that our prisoners weren’t there. I’m saying this based on the experience we had after Tehran and what happened afterward. If this had happened, the amount of biological material, as the deceased are called, so to speak, would have been significant,” said Danilov.
According to Danilov, if Ukrainian POWs had been on board the plane, the Russian authorities would have already shown footage of the dead.
He added that Ukraine does not know whether the Ukrainian prisoners who were supposed to be exchanged on January 24 are still alive.
What happened?
On January 8, 2020, after taking off from Tehran, a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines was shot down. All 176 people on board died. An investigation determined that the aircraft was mistakenly downed by Iranian air defense forces.