The incident took place on January 24, a day that was supposed to be a joyous event – 65 prisoners of war from Ukraine and Russia were to be exchanged and they could finally return to their loved ones back home. These prisoners of war have gone through the baptism of war, spent the dark years in the prisoner of war camps, and finally looked forward to this day. Some of them have been imprisoned for more than a year and are filled with longing for their peaceful homeland.
However, just before they were about to arrive at the exchange site and regain their freedom and lives, the Il-76 transport plane carrying them crashed, killing everyone on board. According to eyewitness accounts, the plane exploded twice in the air, then crashed into a field not far outside the village, followed by another huge explosion. It's heart-wrenching. It was a plane carrying life and hope, but in the blink of an eye, it became a burial place.
At the beginning of the incident, all parties reacted violently, and you went back and forth to blame each other. Ukraine denies shooting down plane, questions Russia's failure to report routes; Russia, for its part, harshly attacked Ukraine for breaking the contract and firing. The turmoil was difficult to calm down for a while.
A Ukrainian spokesman quickly retracted his previous claims of exaggerating the results of the shootdown, not admitting the downing, but also not denying it. They claimed that they needed to continue their investigation and could not confirm whether the plane was actually carrying prisoners of war. At the same time, they in turn questioned the fact that the Russian side did not inform the flight plan in advance, as is customary, and that the prisoners of war are in danger.
The Russian side stressed that it had informed Ukraine of the route arrangement in advance, and it had done so in the past. They claim that Ukraine's move is tantamount to a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians and prisoners of war, which is extremely egregious in nature and must be held accountable.
Russia has not yet released conclusive evidence as to whether the plane was really carrying prisoners of war, and we can only reserve our judgment. After all, the crash site is on the territory of Russia, and it is not easy to find out what happened.
▲ Prisoner of war exchange on January 3
But we note that the Ukrainian official did not deny the identity of the prisoner of war in the follow-up statement, they only said that it could not be confirmed. Then it can be inferred, at least, that the Ukrainian side also has no evidence that there were no prisoners of war on board.
Since both sides confirmed that there had been an exchange of prisoners of war that day, it is likely that the prisoners of war were indeed on board. After all, the previous exchange was also for Russia to send transport planes to the border for Ukrainian prisoners of war. The actual situation needs to be further investigated.
Well, there is a discrepancy between the statements of Russia and Ukraine regarding the advance notification of the route. We need to find out the evidence. Even if there were misrepresentations or misunderstandings, they should not justify firing. Because it is impossible for either side not to understand the seriousness of the accidental attack on its own prisoner of war transport aircraft during the war.
Therefore, regardless of whether the notification is in place or not, the opening of fire by the Ukrainian side is itself unacceptable. Is this hostile to the prisoners of war who are about to return home? Or is it that the grassroots soldiers are young and vigorous and can't hold back and pull the trigger after learning that the Russian plane has entered the country? Or is this just a false alarm and a tragic accident?
But in any case, the incident has already caused irreparable loss of life. We must reflect on the fact that neither side of the war should take the lives of prisoners of war lightly. They are no longer able to influence the tide of battle, and should not be targeted to vent their anger or attack.
The spirit of humanitarianism tells us that any prisoner of war should be protected and treated kindly. They are all other people's sons, and they are all living people. Taking their lives on the eve of an exchange is unacceptable.
I think this is a more important reminder that peace and humanity are more important than anything else. Justice is not based on hatred, only tolerance and reason can lead us to the light.
Meng Ziyun: "Everyone can be Yao Shun". Peace should belong to everyone.
This war has been going on for a long time, and we need reason and tolerance even more. Regardless of the final verdict of the facts, we must remain rational and uphold humanitarianism. Only peace can end suffering, and we must look at the problem from the perspective of a community with a shared future for mankind.