The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Wednesday that at least 65 people had died in the crash of a Russian Ilyushin-76 military transport plane that occurred in southern Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border.
Among those on board were Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) who were going to be swapped, according to Russian news outlet Ria Novosti.
According to Reuters, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that he was going to investigate the scene of a “incident” that had happened in the area’s Korochansky district, northeast of Belgorod city.
He claimed that emergency personnel and detectives had already arrived on the area.
A massive airplane was seen plummeting into the earth and bursting in a blaze in a video that was posted on a channel connected to Russian security agencies on the messaging app Telegram.
