by Artemy Sharapov and Oleg Krivoshapov
[REGNUM] In the Korochansky district of the Belgorod region (the area is located northeast of the regional center), at about 11:00 on January 24, a heavy military transport aircraft Il-76 crashed, which was flying along the route Chkalovsky airfield (Moscow region) - Belgorod.
Everyone on board was killed, said the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on the plane there were 65 prisoners of war - soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were transported for exchange, as well as nine Russian citizens - three accompanying people and six crew members.
The radar equipment of the Aerospace Forces recorded the launch of two Ukrainian missiles, which shot down the Il-76. The missiles were fired from an air defense system deployed in the area of the border village of Liptsy, Kharkov region, the Ministry of Defense reported.
From Liptsy to Belgorod in a straight line - about 65 km and about 120 km to the village of Yablonovo, in the area of which the plane was shot down.
Immediately after the incident, the Ukrainian media began to disseminate information that the plane was shot down due to the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the same time, the Kiev press spread the theory that the plane was allegedly transporting missiles for the S-300 complexes.
However, after reports of captured Ukrainian military personnel on board, information about the involvement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to be deleted and corrected.
For example, the publication “Ukrainian Pravda” hastened to forward the headlines and added a paragraph stating that reports about the involvement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the attack on the Russian plane were allegedly not confirmed. The material in RBC-Ukraine also changed.
"FROM A WESTERN-STYLE COMPLEX"
Previously, Ukrainian sources reported that the plane was shot down from Western air defense systems: either from the American Patriot or from the German IRIS.
The assumption that the plane could have been shot down from Patriot or IRIS-T launchers was also expressed by the head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov.
A commission of the Russian Aerospace Forces flew to the scene of the emergency, where an investigative group and specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations are already working, to clarify the circumstances of the Ukrainian missile attack.
Western-made ammunition was most likely used to destroy the plane, military expert Alexander Artamonov told IA Regnum.
“It could be anything, any anti-aircraft complex. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have 39 types of artillery systems in service, more than seven classes of air defense systems, any of these systems could hit. Moreover, the flight data was not encrypted, it was such a cold-blooded murder,” the expert notes.
Previously, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received several types of anti-aircraft missile systems from NATO countries. These include the British Stormer air defense systems, the American Avenger and HAWK, the Italian Aspide, the French Crotale and the American-Norwegian NASAMS systems. However, most of these weapons do not have a long range.
Most likely, the American-made MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile system could have been used to attack the Il-76 aircraft, provided that the missile was adjusted in the air. For this purpose, MIM-104 PAC-2 anti-aircraft missiles, which have a range of up to 160 km, could be used.
As experts note, it is possible to establish the anti-aircraft system with which the Il-76 plane was shot down based on the configuration of the wreckage and the characteristic traces left by the missile.
“If a Soviet air defense system was used, for example the Buk-M1, then there should have been traces of shrapnel on the wreckage,” Artamonov pointed out. “ Here you can see that the plane was shot down and fell apart in the air. It is precisely the hit of a Western-style air defense system on an aircraft that will cause its destruction, in contrast to small-fragmentation damage from “Soviet ammunition.”
Western air defense systems, as a rule, do not try to blow up some body near the target, they try to hit the device itself. These are precisely Western systems or missiles, or Western-style air defense systems, adds Alexander Artamonov.
THE LEADERSHIP OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE SHOWED ITS TRUE COLORS
“The Ukrainian leadership knew very well that, according to established practice, today Ukrainian military personnel would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield for exchange,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The exchange was scheduled for the afternoon of January 24 at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the border with Ukraine.
According to IA Regnum, one of the dead prisoners of war who were supposed to be exchanged was 26-year-old Bogdan Dudyak. After being captured, he said that the commanders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces abandoned them to their positions without really explaining what to do.
“ Guys, don’t go to war! Traitors are those who sent us to Donbass as cannon fodder. A lot of people are dying. If I met Zelensky, I would ask to stop the war,” Dudyak said in a video message.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation emphasized: Kyiv agreed to destroy the plane with Ukrainian prisoners in order to blame Russia for this. The enemy’s military leadership thus showed its true colors.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin suggested that Russian deputies prepare appeals to the US Congress and the German Bundestag so that American and German legislators understand who their countries finance.
“This is a Nazi regime, nurtured by Biden, Macron, Scholz, and other politicians,” Volodin said. - They must realize their responsibility. And members of parliament should impeach them.”
According to deputy Kartapolov, the State Duma should begin work on recognizing Ukraine as a terrorist state, and its ruling regime as a terrorist cell.
More from Russian military correspondent Aleksandr Kots, from his V Kontakte page
⚡⚡⚡Ukrainians do not believe the version of the Russian Ministry of Defense about the prisoners on board the downed Il-76.
A number of Ukrainian media and bloggers were skeptical about the report of the Russian Ministry of Defense that there were prisoners of war from the Wehrmacht Service on board the downed Il-76. The main argument is why the Ministry of Defense has not yet published photographs and videos of bodies found at the crash site.
Such people apparently think that in plane crashes the corpses fall to the ground in black bags and with name tags on their little fingers. In fact, the dead often have to be collected in a bucket. Only a day has passed since the crash, work at the crash site continues. Not everyone has been found yet.
In addition, if you publish photos of bodies in the form in which they are now, then 95 percent of the frame will have to be blurred. According to the law, this cannot be dumped in the media without retouching. And if you blur it, the skeptics will immediately scream that it was filmed at Mosfilm.
Mosfilm owns the rights to many Soviet era movies. They have a Youtube channel.
Don’t worry, the people in charge have long ago filed photographs from the crash site in a special folder.