2024 Korochansky Ilyushin Il-76 crash
[1][4][5][6][7] The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not directly take responsibility for shooting down the airplane, but stated that it was a legitimate military target and that it was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for bombing Kharkiv Oblast.[7][8] Ukraine's Coordination HQ on the Treatment of POWs estimates that more than 8,000 Ukrainian civilians and military personnel are being held prisoner by Russia since the start of its invasion in 2022, with tens of thousands still unaccounted for.[17][18] Russian news media reported a crew of six people,[19] consisting of captain Stanislav Alekseevich Bezzubkin (35),[20][21] co-pilot Vladislav Vadimovich Chmirev (24),[22] navigator Alexey Anatolyevich Vysokin (31), flight engineer Andrey Leonidovich Piluev (38),[23] technician Sergey Nikolaevich Zhitenev (34), and radio operator Igor Vyacheslavovich Sablinsky (54).[34] The Russian Defence Ministry said that the aircraft was shot down by two missiles that were fired from the Lyptsi area, 100 km (62 mi) across the border in Kharkiv Oblast, citing its radar systems.[16][12] Andrei Kartapolov, the chairman of the defence committee of the State Duma of Russia, said that a second plane on its way to transport 80 Ukrainian POWs turned back following the incident,[25] adding that "there can now be no talk of any other [prisoner] exchanges".[16] The independent Russian media outlet iStories, citing Ukrainian OSINT investigations, reported that the aircraft had flown over Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea and Iran before disappearing from radars and reappearing over Belgorod Oblast.[46] It also said that on the day of the incident, its counterparts in Russia had not informed them of the need to ensure the safety of the area's airspace, contrary to previous practices, and had already transported the Russian POWs that were supposed to be exchanged to the designated venue."[47] On 25 January, the HUR said that it had received intelligence that several senior Russian military and political officials were supposed to be on board the aircraft but were told by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to take other forms of transportation instead.It also said that the FSB and the Russian military prevented emergency workers from inspecting the crash site, while at least five bodies were recovered and sent to a morgue in Belgorod, and no other human remains were found at the scene, citing video taken of the area.[49] In his address that evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that it was "obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and with the emotions of our society", but did not confirm the presence of POWs aboard the aircraft, saying that it was still being clarified by the HUR.[50] Likewise, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets [uk] said that he would send letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross urging them to call for an investigation.[9] The New York Times reported on 8 February that, according to anonymous US officials, the Il-76 was shot down by an American Patriot missile operated by Ukraine, and that claims that there were Ukrainian POWs on board were "probable".