Ukraine says Russia has refused to turn over bodies of plane crash victims
A Ukrainian intelligence official says that the country has repeatedly asked Russia to hand over the bodies of scores of prisoners of war who Moscow claimed were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Ukrainian forces
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian intelligence official said that the country has repeatedly asked Russia to hand over the bodies of scores of prisoners of war who Moscow claimed were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Ukrainian forces.
Andrii Yusov, the spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence said in televised remarks late Thursday that Kyiv has urged Moscow to hand over the bodies of those who died in the Jan. 24 crash, but it has refused to do so. He reaffirmed Ukraine's call for an international probe into the crash that would determine whether the cargo plane carried weapons or passengers along with the crew.
Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations over the crash, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of killing its own men and Ukraine dismissing Moscow’s assertions as “rampant Russian propaganda.”
Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed the Il-76, and Russia’s claim that the crash killed Ukrainian POWs couldn’t be independently verified. Ukrainian officials emphasized that Moscow didn’t ask for any specific stretch of airspace to be kept safe for a certain length of time, as it has for past prisoner exchanges.
