Kiev just blew up a plane full of POWs that were on their way to the Ukraine border for a prisoner exchange.
This is another thing that no one has ever done before in history. It is a very unique kind of atrocity to mass kill your own POWs.
I suppose they will claim they didn’t do it, or they didn’t know it was filled with POWs.
However, there is evidence that the Ukraine is trying desperately to kill its entire male population, so it’s possible they were like “don’t send those guys back here! We don’t want them!”
RT:
A Russian heavy transport plane carrying several dozen Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) has crashed in Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, Moscow has confirmed. Earlier, media reports suggested that all passengers and crew members on board were killed.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that an IL-76 cargo aircraft carrying 65 captured Ukrainian service members as well as six crew members and three people accompanying the POWs went down during a pre-planned flight at around 11am local time. It added that the prisoners were being transported to Belgorod region for an exchange.
Defense officials also noted that Moscow has dispatched a commission to establish the cause of the incident.
Telegram channel 112, citing a source, had earlier reported that the crash took place near the village of Yablonovo, about 90 km from the border. The channel at the time said that there were no survivors.
Meanwhile, Ukraine-based Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper reported, citing sources in Kiev’s military, that the aircraft had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces. However, the outlet reported that the plane had been carrying S-300 air defense missiles rather than prisoners.
A few minutes later, it removed the mention of Kiev’s role in the downing of the aircraft, stating only that its military sources had confirmed the crash.
It’s possible it was actually an accident.
You’d hope the military would be aware of a coming exchange, and figure out which type of plane was used for transporting prisoners. But it’s quite possible they are not functioning on that level.
This is such a weird war.