In this photo taken from validated UGC video smoke rises from the scene of a warplane crash at a residential area near Yablonovo, Belgorod region, Wednesday, Jun. 23, 2024. (Validated UGC video via AP)
AP: A military transport plane that Russia said was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed Wednesday morning in a Russian region near Ukraine.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash in the Belgorod region or if anyone survived. The Associated Press could not confirm who was aboard the plane, and the Ukrainians did not immediately comment.
A special military commission was on the way to the crash site, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing the ministry, reported that the POWs were being transported to the border region for a prisoner exchange.
Speaking on his morning call with reporters, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he could not comment on the crash as he did not have enough information about it.
The Russian air force has suffered a string of crashes that some observers have attributed to a higher number of flights amid the fighting in Ukraine.
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