DONETSK, January 24 Ukrainian attack on the Il-76 plane , on board of which there were captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, is a demonstrative disruption of the next exchange of prisoners of war, said the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, recalling that Kyiv had already shot down planes for provocations — Malaysian Boeing flight MH17 in 2014.
“It is well known that the Ukrainian regime does not value its soldiers—hundreds and thousands of them are thrown to the front line, sometimes simply into a “meat grinder.” Moreover, they do not feel sorry for their prisoners of war—and today they defiantly and brazenly disrupted another exchange,” said the head of the DPR.
Pushilin added that over the years of the conflict the enemy has shown himself to be cynical and unprincipled. By attacking a plane with its own fighters, the Zelensky regime once again confirmed that it needs war, the head of the DPR said.
“Kyiv is ready to undertake any monstrous provocations, just to increase the degree of conflict. We remember: in order to blame the Donetsk militia and Russia, they shot down a Malaysian Boeing in the summer of 2014. So today’s attack on the Il-76 is not the first time that The Ukrainian regime resorts to such terrorist tactics to achieve its goals,” he said.
Pushilin added that the Russian crew of the Il-76 showed themselves heroically, as they took the falling plane away from residential buildings.
A Malaysian Boeing flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014 near Donetsk. There were 298 people on board, all of them died. Kyiv immediately blamed the militia for the plane crash, but they said that they did not have the means to shoot down the plane at such an altitude.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down an Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod region, which was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners for exchange. All prisoners on board, as well as six crew members and three accompanying persons died — a total of 74 people.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Kyiv was well aware of the impending transportation of prisoners for exchange, which was supposed to take place later on Wednesday (whether it will take place in any format, there is no data yet). The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the crash of the Il-76 “raises a big question about the possibilities of at least some kind of agreement” with Kiev.
Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin instructed to prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the Bundestag — it is the States and Germany that supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missile systems (Patriot and Iris-T). Ukrainian media, meanwhile, first wrote that the Il-76 was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but then deleted the data from the sites.