Another major event happened on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield: an Il-76 transport plane of the Russian army was shot down by 3 Patriot missiles of the United States, and all the people on board were killed!
On January 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that an Il-76 aircraft crashed at around 11 o'clock local time on the 24th at a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers from the village of Yablonovo, Korochansky District, Belgorod Oblast. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, confirmed that all 74 people on board had died. Among them, 65 are prisoners of war of the Ukrainian army who are preparing to exchange prisoners with Ukraine, and the other 6 are crew members and 3 entourage.
Currently, the Russian emergency medical team has gone to the site of the plane crash in the Korochansky district of Belgorod province, and an investigative committee of the Russian Air Force has also gone to the scene of the plane crash to determine the cause. Meanwhile, retired General Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, said that the crashed Russian Il-76 transport plane was shot down by three Western-aided missiles launched by Ukraine.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Western countries led by the United States provided Ukraine with a large amount of weapons and equipment, and the United States and Germany also assisted killer weapons such as Patriot missiles. In October last year, the German Ministry of Defense said it was ready to provide Ukraine with a new winter military aid package worth 1 billion euros, including the Patriot, IRIS-T and Gepard air defense missile systems.
Kartapolov served as head of the Main Directorate of Operations of the General Staff of the Russian Army, as commander of the Russian army in Syria, then as commander of the Western Military District, and later as chairman of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee. Kartapolov did not mention his source of information, but further emphasized that it was the American "Patriot" missile that shot down the Russian Il-76 transport plane, and of course it is also possible that the "IRIS-T" missile.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack by shooting down a Russian Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region, which was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war for an exchange. Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin also accused Ukraine of shooting down the Il-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region, "they shot down our pilots on humanitarian missions with American and German missiles, killed their own soldiers in the air - the mothers and children of these soldiers were waiting for them." ”
Russia and Ukraine recently reached a "192 to 192" agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, and the Russian Il-76 transport plane is transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war on this trip, preparing to exchange Russian prisoners of war with Ukraine. On January 24, the Avia website reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down the Il-76 aircraft carrying its own prisoners of war, disrupting the exchange agreement for prisoners of war. To ensure safety, another Il-76 aircraft carrying 80 Ukrainian prisoners of war made an emergency return.
It is noteworthy that Ukrainska Pravda also admits that the Il-76 was shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After several media outlets published on Wednesday about the crash of an Il-76 military transport plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces over Belgorod, Ukraine's Ukrainska Pravda published an article on its website titled "An Il-76 transport plane crashed in Russia's Belgorod region: Ukrainian forces say it was 'they did'".
Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that an appeal to the US Congress and the German Bundestag will be prepared to find out the missile that caused the crash of the Il-76 aircraft in the Belgorod region. And the Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rodion Miroshnik, bluntly stated that "Kyiv has committed crazy barbarism, with complete disregard for human life." They violated the protocol, killed our pilots and escort soldiers, and let their own compatriots go to waste. ”
It is worth noting that since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, there have been a number of air crashes in Russia, including many military aircraft. On the afternoon of January 14, the Ukrainian army attacked two Russian airborne early warning aircraft over the Sea of Azov: one A-50 AWACS aircraft was shot down shortly after takeoff, and another Il22-M airborne early warning command aircraft was attacked and made an emergency landing in Anapa on the Russian side of the Sea of Azov.
If Russia's investigation makes it clear that it was the Il-76 transport plane shot down by a US Patriot missile, and the new hatred is compounded with the old hatred, it is estimated that Russia will definitely take revenge on the United States.