Russia refuses to return the bodies of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, who, according to it, were killed when a Russian Il-76 military transport plane was shot down last week near the Russian border town of Belgorod, Ukrainian military intelligence representative Andriy Yusov said.
But the press secretary of the Kremlin Dmytro Peskov said that the presidential administration did not receive such a request from Ukraine.
This is part of the terrible struggle over what happened in the January 24 plane crash, who died and who is responsible.
Russia is trying to place the blame on Kyiv, claiming that Ukraine shot down the transport plane with American-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. Ukraine does not confirm or deny that it shot down the plane.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia called what happened a terrorist act and accused that Kyiv knew in advance that the prisoners were going to be sent for a prisoner of war exchange, but Ukraine shot down the plane to smear Moscow.
Russia convened a meeting of the UN Security Council on January 25, declaring that Kyiv had committed a terrorist attack using Western weapons. However, the UN said it was unable to verify these reports or the circumstances of the disaster.
"It is obvious that the incident occurred in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. To avoid further escalation, we call on all interested parties to refrain from actions, rhetoric or accusations that could further inflame an already dangerous conflict," said during the meeting.
Kyiv claims that the IL-76 was a legitimate target, as missiles and other weapons that will be used against Ukraine often fly on such planes. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded an international investigation into the disaster.
After that, Kyiv confirmed that the exchange of prisoners was indeed planned. The Ukrainian government also claims that it did not report that there were prisoners on board the plane.
Big questions still remain about who exactly was on board the plane that was filmed when it went down in a fiery crash near Belgorod.
According to Yusov, only five bodies were delivered to the Belgorod morgue. Ukrainian journalists managed to confirm that at least three of them were Russian crew members.
Russia has released a list of the names of those believed to have died, and Ukraine's Prisoner of War Coordination Headquarters has confirmed that the list of 65 prisoners of war published by Russia is the actual exchange plan for that day.
But the actions of the Kremlin after the disaster cause Kyiv to suspect that Russia is lying.
"Russia immediately announced that it would not allow international experts to investigate the IL-76M crash. However, Ukraine will use all tools to find out the real reasons for what happened, as well as to find out who or what was transported in this plane," he said. Serhii Andrushchenko, deputy head of the SBU, added that Ukraine needs more time to gather evidence through its sources in Russia.
Russia's Investigative Committee released a video from the crash site showing tattoos on one body fragment, claiming it was proof that there were prisoners of war on board, as similar tattoos can often be seen on soldiers of the Ukrainian Azov battalion.
"Among the material evidence, which has already been attached to the materials of the criminal proceedings, there are also documents of Ukrainian servicemen who died during the disaster, confirming their identities," the Investigative Committee of Russia reported.
However, relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war, whose names were on the list, did not recognize the tattoos of their loved ones on the video footage, according to the message of the coordination headquarters.
The accident happened a few days before a large-scale exchange of prisoners.
On January 31, Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war, Kyiv returned 207, Russia returned 195 military personnel.
Yusov reported that 65 prisoners of war from the January 24 list were not among them. Since the Kremlin refuses to return their bodies, Ukraine still considers them "captive".
