Russian Foreign Ministry official says Belgorod plane crash casts doubt on future negotiations, blaming incident on Ukraine
Blaming Ukraine for the crash of an Il-76 military plane in Russia’s Belgorod region on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry official Rodion Miroshnik accused Kyiv of committing an “act of insane barbarity” and said the incident “called into question the possibility of any negotiations.”
Miroshnik’s statement appeared on his Telegram channel and has not been published by the Foreign Ministry’s official resources.
Earlier, Russian State Duma Defense Committee head Andrey Kartapolov, who also accused Ukraine of causing the crash, said that “all talk of [POW] exchanges is now off the table.”
The aircraft crashed at around noon local time in the Belgorod region’s Korochansky District. The Russian Defense Ministry has alleged that the plane was transporting Ukrainian POWs for a prisoner exchange. Ukraine’s Ukraine's POW Coordination Headquarters has not confirmed or denied this claim.
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