Russian human rights commissioner says bodies of Ukrainian POWs killed in January attack on transport plane have been repatriated

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said in a recent interview with the state media that Moscow has returned the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war killed in an attack on January 24 against a Russian military transport plane in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border. According to the Russian military, the aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs to a planned prisoner swap. Six crew members and three guards also died when the plane was shot down.

Ukrainian officials did not formally take responsibility for firing on the transport plane but insisted that it was a legitimate military target that was also carrying anti-aircraft missiles to be used against the Kharkiv region. Kyiv has not commented on Moskalkova’s comments this week.