Press Statement

31 January 2024

On the morning of January 24, the Kiev regime committed another terrorist act by downing a Russian Il-76 military transport plane near the village of Yablonovo in the Korochansky District, Belgorod Region.

It was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs for an agreed-upon exchange. All of them, as well as six crew members and three Russian officers on board the plane were killed.

The plane was hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile system from the village of Liptsy in the Kharkov Region.

This is yet another atrocity committed by Zelensky’s criminal regime. Immediately after the plane went down, they made a misanthropic statement about the victory of the “valiant Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

However, the office on Bankovaya Street changed its rhetoric as soon as it became known that the plane was carrying Ukrainian servicemen to an exchange site. They then began denying their involvement in the crash.

Kiev was well aware of the planned exchange. It also knew how the POWs were to be moved and by what route. The attack against the plane was a deliberate act. This terrorist act clearly demonstrates the Kiev regime’s inability to negotiate.

This is not the first cruel murder of Ukrainian POWs by the Zelensky junta.

On July 29, 2022, the Banderites fired a missile at the penal colony in Yelenovka (DPR) where militants from the Azov battalion had been held captive. Over 50 people were killed and more than 70 wounded.

We resolutely condemn the Kiev regime’s terrorist act in the Belgorod Region. All those involved, including the organisers and executors from the Ukrainian military and civilian officials will be identified and held responsibly under Russian law.

This action shows once again the criminal nature of the neo-Nazi dictatorship in Kiev. Its leaders are indifferent to human life. They treat people as “expendable material” and kill them on orders from their Western bosses with Western-supplied arms.

It is perfectly obvious that the Zelensky criminal regime, nurtured by the US and its NATO satellites, poses a substantial threat not only to Russia but also to Ukraine, its ordinary citizens and the rest of the world. Being in agony, this regime can commit the most heinous atrocities.

We believe international organisations, national governments and the world public must denounce this terrorist act and other crimes committed by the Kiev regime. Silence can only mean support for the regime’s barbarous nature and terrorist actions.

(C) Russia’s Foreign Ministry