Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets has suggested there were no Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Russian IL-76 when it crashed.
"I have no reason to believe that there were Ukrainian prisoners of war on board, and there are no arguments to deny it. We demand an international investigation. As for the bodies of prisoners of war, if they were really on board, they would definitely be near the wreckage, and Russia would use them. This did not happen, so there was nothing to show, probably," he told Voice of America.
He added that the situation with the plane is similar to the tragedy in Olenivka.
"Again, an attempt to launch an information campaign against our country using prisoners of war. This is not the first and not the last information campaign launched by the Russians," Lubinets said.
The ombudsman also suggested that the crash was intended to discredit the military assistance Ukraine receives.
"An hour after the plane crashed, the Duma speaker already made a statement. And pay attention to who they are addressing: the United States and Germany. The United States is No 1 in terms of military assistance, Germany is No 2," he noted.
Lubinets said that he immediately wrote an urgent letter to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and is now awaiting a response.
There is also no information about the prisoners of war who were on the lists published by the Russian side.
"To obtain information, we need the Russian side's willingness to provide it or the desire of international partners to put pressure on the Russian side and demand explanations and access to our citizens who are in captivity. I am constantly recording the facts that the International Committee of the Red Cross is not fulfilling its mandate, does not demand anything from the Russians," Lubinets said.
He said that he expects the organisation to respond as quickly as possible and to the international community to respond effectively.
"I want to show the nonsense of the situation: on the one hand, the Russian Federation is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which means that everyone automatically recognises that Russia is complying with the organisation's charter. On the other hand, the Russian Federation deliberately and openly violates all the norms of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions," the ombudsman said.
What is known about the IL-76 crash
- On the afternoon of 24 January, an Il-76 military transport plane crashed in Russia's Belgorod Region. The Russians claimed that there were allegedly Ukrainian prisoners of war on board and accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane. They also immediately said that Ukraine had allegedly used Western weapons. It is worth noting that Russia has previously resorted to deadly provocations with captured Ukrainians, in particular in Olenivka, where it blew up the place of their detention and tried to shift the blame to Ukraine.
- The Ukrainian intelligence service confirmed that a prisoner exchange was scheduled for 24 January, but it was disrupted. At first, the GUR said that they did not have "reliable and comprehensive information about who was on board the plane and in what quantity". However, Ukraine fulfilled all the agreements to prepare the exchange and brought the Russians to the agreed point for the exchange, where they were safe.
- Radio Liberty journalists have identified some of the dead crew members of the IL-76. These are soldiers of the 117th Military Transport Aviation Regiment based in Orenburg. The 17th Regiment is military unit No. 45097 in Orenburg Region. According to publicly available data, this regiment is involved in the maintenance of military vehicles transporting special cargo for the material support of the Russian army.
- Andriy Yusov later stated that Russian officials were supposed to be on board the IL-76 aircraft, which crashed in Russia's Belgorod Region the day before, but at the last minute the FSB forbade them to board the plane.
- Intelligence has also confirmed that the Il-76 is a military aircraft of a rather outdated modification, which is in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces. It performs combat missions. Accordingly, it should not have been involved in humanitarian missions.