From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 3 hours ago, updated 1 hour ago
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Ukraine, which has called for an international investigation, has neither confirmed nor denied that the plane was shot down, but appeared to cast doubt on whether there were prisoners on board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday it was “blatant” that the Il-76 military transport plane that crashed in the border area on Wednesday was shot down by Ukrainian forces. On Wednesday, an Il-76 transport plane crashed near the Russian village of Jablonovo, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
According to Russian authorities, the crash killed 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were being transferred for an exchange with Kiev. “The intelligence services of the Ukrainian army knew that we had 65 (Ukrainian, editor's note) soldiers on board. They shot it down, by accident or on purpose, but they did it,” Vladimir Putin told Russian students in his first comments on the crash. “In any case, it is a crime,” he added.
Ukraine, which has called for an international investigation, has neither confirmed nor denied that the plane was shot down, but appeared to cast doubt on whether there were prisoners on board. Kiev confirmed that a prisoner exchange would take place but said it had not been informed that the prisoners were to be flown to the border as before.