(Kyiv) Kyiv and Moscow continue to mutually blame each other for the crash of a Russian military plane near the Ukrainian border, the mystery of which remains unsolved.
Russia and Ukraine maintained their versions, sharply exchanging accusations, during the meeting of the UN Security Council, organized Thursday the day after the crash of the aircraft, which was transporting, according to the authorities Russians, 65 Ukrainian prisoners with a view to an exchange.
“All the information we have today shows that we are dealing with a premeditated and well-thought-out crime,” said Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy, whose country had requested the emergency meeting.
The Russian diplomat accused the Ukrainians of having wanted to “sabotage the procedure” of exchanging prisoners “in the most barbaric way” and of having agreed to “sacrifice their own citizens for the geopolitical interests of the West”.
Ukraine’s deputy ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshyn refuted his accusations, saying that if the presence of prisoners on board was confirmed, Russia would have to account for a “new violation of international humanitarian law.”
human shields in the air
SCREENSHOT OF AUTHENTICATE VIDEO, PROVIDED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Flames rise from the scene of a warplane crash in a residential area near Yablonovo, Belgorod region.
This would be “the first case of use in the air of human shields to cover the transport of missiles”, she denounced.
Thursday evening, the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the investigation opened by Moscow for “terrorism”, released a video of almost 40 seconds showing shots of a wooded area and a snow-covered field.
Several fallen trees and a large piece of crumpled sheet metal are visible, but no sign of the enormous carcass of the Il-76 military plane, the length of which reaches almost 50 meters.
On the ground, on the snow, debris is difficult to identify. Human remains of one or two bodies, blurred, as well as some traces of blood are visible.
AFP was not immediately able to identify the location or verify the date of filming of these images.
On Wednesday, an Il-76 transport plane crashed near the Russian village of Yablonovo, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine in the Belgorod region, killing all 74 occupants, according to Russian authorities.
According to them, 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were going to be exchanged were there, with a crew of six people and three Russian soldiers.
Russian investigators repeated the version put forward by Moscow, according to which “the plane was attacked by an anti-aircraft missile from Ukrainian territory”.
However, Russia has not provided any proof of the identity of the passengers.
The Ukrainian human rights commissioner, Dmytro Loubinets, called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to “inspect the scene” of the crash.
The ICRC, refusing any “speculation”, affirmed “not knowing what happened”.
Kyiv did not confirm that it had shot down the plane, but stressed its desire to continue targeting military targets on Russian territory.
And Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) insisted on the lack of “reliable and complete information” regarding the plane’s passengers. President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international investigation.
Russia “responsible”
The Ukrainian human rights commissioner noted that Russia was in all cases “responsible for the safety” of detainees, according to the Geneva Convention.
Kyiv acknowledges that an exchange of prisoners was planned, but claims to have “not been informed” of the need to secure the airspace in the crash zone.
On Thursday, the country’s special services (SBU) announced that they were opening an investigation into the crash, but any investigation seems difficult, as the aircraft was on Russian territory.
Russian investigators recovered two black boxes, state agency Ria Novosti reported, citing a source within the emergency services.
A sign of the uncertainty and the many questions, international reactions have been rather rare.
The spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lemoine, said he was “not able to say whether the Russian assertions are true or not.” “Russia has accustomed us to lying on these subjects,” he added.
MH17, Prigozhin
The Belgorod region, where the crash took place, is regularly targeted by Ukrainian strikes in retaliation for numerous Russian attacks.
Kyiv has already claimed responsibility for the destruction of Russian aircraft which until recently seemed beyond the reach of Ukrainian weapons.
Last week, the country said it had shot down two Russian planes, which Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied.
Russia has been involved in several air disasters, the circumstances of which are still unclear and for which it has always denied responsibility.
The most famous case is that of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine in 2014. If all the elements point to the responsibility of fighters in the pay of Moscow, Russia has multiplied the versions to accuse the Ukraine of the tragedy which left 298 dead.
A more recent case is that of the plane carrying the leader of the Wagner armed group, Yevgeni Prigozhin, which crashed in August 2023 during a flight between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, a few weeks after an aborted mutiny.