A large Russian military transport plane crashed Wednesday near the border with Ukraine killing everyone onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said, accusing Ukraine of shooting down the plane with missiles.
The ministry said in a statement that the plane had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being transferred to the Belgorod region to be exchanged for Russian service personnel. It accused Ukrainian forces of launching two missiles from the nearby Kharkiv region of Ukraine that struck the aircraft. The plane was also carrying six crew members and three other individuals, the ministry said.
The Russian claims could not be independently verified.