Ukraine claims that Russia is unwilling to return the dead bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Recently, the Kremlin made huge headlines after its Russian military transport plane crashed near the border with Ukraine.
Authorities said that the cargo warplane crashed in the Belgorod region. As of writing, the main reason for the incident is still unknown.
The Russian aircraft, which was an Il-76, was confirmed to be carrying more than 60 Ukrainian POWs. Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Gladkov said that all these prisoners of war died because of the plane crash.
Unfortunately, Russia denied the claims that its military cargo aircraft were carrying Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukraine Says Russia Will Not Return POW Bodies
According to The Guardian's latest report, a Ukrainian military spy official announced on Tuesday, Jan. 30, that Russia was showing no intention of returning the bodies of dead Ukrainian POWs.
"It's a statement from Russia that our prisoners were there, and so far we can analyze only their words," said Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian politician.
But, he added that Russian officials are no longer showing any willingness to transfer the dead Ukrainian POW bodies back to Kyiv.
Yusov further stated that Moscow didn't provide any evidence to support the assertion that the Russian military cargo airplane carried Ukrainian prisoners of war.
However, this is quite different from what the Russian Investigative Committee showed since footage showing a single body in the snowy field was recently published by the committee.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that he had no information on what the Russian government plans to do with the dead bodies or if they would be handed to Ukraine.
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Ukraine, Russia Accused Each Other Over Plane Crash
Ukraine and Russia both accused each other over the controversial military cargo plane crash, as reported by The Associated Press. Kremlin officials claimed that Ukrainians were the ones who shot down the plane.
But, Kyiv said that the allegations of Russia against it are nothing but propaganda to cast doubt that the warplane carried Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that Russia's rampant propaganda is trying to direct a fake stream of information to the international audience.
However, media in Ukraine were reportedly citing sources within the Ukrainian military, claiming that the Russian military plane was also carrying S-300 missiles, which were supposed to be used against the nearby Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
