Large objects were seen falling out of a Russian Il-76 military plane shortly before it crashed in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine on Wednesday, according to local reports.
The VChK-OGPU outlet, which purports to have inside information from Russian security forces, said it was told by an eyewitness that a “strange” object was thrown out of the aircraft moments before the plane crashed at around 11:00 a.m. local time near the village of Yablonovo.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, also said “several large objects” fell from the Il-76 before the incident. It’s not clear what the objects were.
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Gerashchenko said reports indicated that the site of the crash was immediately cordoned off and local residents forbidden to approach the scene.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. Russia has claimed that there were captured Ukrainian military personnel on the jet heading to the Belgorod region for a prisoner exchange, and accused Ukraine of shooting down the aircraft and committing “a terrorist act.”
“The Ukrainian leadership was well aware that, in accordance with established practice, Ukrainian servicemen would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield today to be exchanged,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.
“According to an earlier agreement, this event was to take place in the afternoon at the Kolotilovka checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian border,” it said.
Earlier, the ministry had said 65 captured Ukrainian military personnel, six Russian crew members and three Russian soldiers had been on board the jet.
“By committing this terrorist act, the Ukrainian leadership has showed its true face. It disregarded the lives of its own citizens,” the statement added.
Independent Russian news outlet The Insider cited a source familiar with prisoner exchange procedures in Russia as saying that captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were on board the Il-76 when it crashed.
Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s HUR Military Intelligence agency, told Radio Svoboda that a prisoner exchange had been scheduled for Wednesday, but said: “It’s not taking place at the moment.”
Ukrainian and Russian authorities didn’t respond to a request for comment by email by Newsweek.
The Ukrainska Pravda news outlet initially said the crash was “the work of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” citing a source, but later said that “at the same time, another UP source did not confirm this information.”
The online newspaper quoted unnamed sources in Ukraine’s Armed Forces as saying that the plane was transporting missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defense systems, and made no mention of prisoners of war.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said it couldn’t confirm whether the aircraft was shot down by Ukrainian forces because “information is still being clarified.”
Maksym Kolesnikov, a former Ukrainian prisoner of war who was freed in February 2023, expressed doubts about Russia’s version of events.
“Russia stated that the Il-76 had 65 prisoners, 6 crew members and 3 (THREE) escorts,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This is complete bull***. When I was taken by plane from Bryansk to Belgorod, there were about 20 of their military police for every 50 prisoners. 3 guards, yeah.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.