Katerina Schwartz15:11, 24.01.25

It is noted that the prosecutor general and the Security Service of Ukraine did not respond to questions about the status of the investigation and whether any remains had been identified.

Exactly one year has passed since the crash of the Il-76 transport plane in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation , which, according to the Russian side, could have been transporting 65 captured Ukrainians. Ukraine has launched an investigation, but has not yet published its results. This is stated in an article in The New York Times .

It is noted that the Prosecutor General and the Security Service of Ukraine did not respond to the editorial board’s questions about the status of this investigation and whether any remains had been identified.

“Russia says Ukraine shot down a military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners. Ukraine has not confirmed its role, identified the bodies it recovered or said how it happened,” the NYT wrote.

It is recalled that Ukrainian officials neither admitted nor denied the shooting down of the plane and said they could not confirm that there were Ukrainian prisoners on board. Later, American officials suggested that Ukrainian forces may have used a Patriot missile to shoot down the plane, thinking that there were Russian missiles and ammunition on board.

It is stated that the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has taken up the investigation of the incident. At the same time, it is emphasized that no independent group has been able to visit the crash site in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, although Ukraine has officially requested access to it from the Red Cross and the United Nations. As a result, the case disappeared from the media headlines for several months, and the exchange of remains in early November was the first sign of a potential breakthrough.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was present when the remains were handed over on November 8. Russia said the transfer included the remains of 65 people killed in the Il-76 crash, but that claim could not be independently verified, the NYT noted.

Ukrainian Sofia Soboleva, who believes that her father could have been on board the downed plane, said that she and other relatives of possible victims of the plane crash learned about the transfer of remains, but they have not yet received any results of the examinations.

“Logically, we understand that Ukraine shot it down,” she said, adding that “officially” they have nothing.

The woman doubts that the families will ever get answers to their questions, such as how it happened and why:

“There was a lot of stress and tears, but I still can’t understand what happened.”

Il-76 crash on January 24, 2024 – what was reported

Let us recall that, as UNIAN wrote, on January 24, 2024, it became known that  an Il-76 military aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation . The Russian Defense Ministry stated that there were allegedly 65 captured Ukrainian servicemen on board and that they all died. At the same time, the Russian Federation accused Ukraine of shooting down the plane.

However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not confirm that  the cause of the Il-76 crash  could have been an attack by the Defense Forces.

Also, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, stated that this version raises many questions . 

In December 2024, Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets commented on Russia’s claims that  the bodies of prisoners allegedly killed in the Russian Il-76 had been handed over to Ukraine . He did not directly confirm this information, but did not deny it either:

“Recently there have been a number of repatriation events, during which the remains of the dead were handed over to Ukraine. Identification is currently underway.”

(c)UNIAN 2025