Il-76 aircraft crashes in Russia's Belgorod Oblast – photo, video

An IL-76 aircraft has crashed in the Korocha district of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast. The governor of the oblast has reported an "incident", and an investigation team and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation are currently working at the scene.

Corrected: Earlier, the article cited sources in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as being involved in the downing of the aircraft. However, another Ukrainska Pravda’s source did not confirm this information.

Source: Russian local Telegram channels; Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod Oblast; Ukrainska Pravda’s sources in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Interfax

Quote from Gladkov: "The incident happened in Korocha district. An investigative team and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia are currently working at the scene. I changed my work schedule and am on my way there. All of the details will be shared later."

Details: Local news outlets reported that the downed plane was likely an IL-76 transport aircraft.

Ukrainska Pravda's sources in the Armed Forces confirmed the downing of the aircraft, saying that "it was their job". Sources in the General Staff stated the plane was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

Interfax, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, is citing the words of Andrei Kartapolov, the chairman of the defence committee of the Russian State Duma, that the Il-76 aircraft was supposedly downed with three Patriot or IRIS-T missiles.

He said that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were supposedly on board, and they were being transported for the further prisoner swap. "The second Il-76 aircraft was following that one, and it carried another 80 POWs on board, but it was turned around in time," Kartapolov said.

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