Russia: Ukraine shot down Ilyushin Il-76 deliberately and purposefully

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists on an international investigation into the crash of the Russian Il-76 transport airplane near Belgorod on January 24 (the aircraft was transporting 65 captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine including 12 members of the Azov* battalion (a terrorist organisation, banned in Russia).

The Ukrainian leader said that he instructed the Foreign Ministry and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry to investigate into the fate of all prisoners of war that were on board the crashed aircraft.

Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Zelensky's remarks and said that Kyiv's crimes clearly need to be sorted out during an international investigation.

"If he means an international investigation into the criminal actions of the Kyiv regime, then one definitely needs to do that," Peskov said.

Answering a question about Putin's instructions in connection with the crash of the Il-76, Peskov said that it was up to the Russian military to voice their version of the airplane crash.

Peskov said that Ukraine's attack on the Russian military transport aircraft was a horrendous act. All those people could have been taken home the next day, but Ukraine killed them, he said.

Vladimir Rogov, Chairman of the Coordination Council for the Integration of New Regions, believes that Ukraine's attack on the Russian transport aircraft was conducted deliberately and purposefully. By shooting down the Il-76, the Ukrainian side pursued no less than three goals:

• to intimidate other Ukrainian fighters who want to surrender,
• to disrupt all negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war,
• to demonstrate an ability to its Western supervisors to eliminate the Russians further.

According to Rogov, the number of Ukrainian soldiers who want to surrender to Russia grows, and the political regime in Kyiv starts panicking.