Already-swapped soldier is on Russian propagandist's list of alleged captives involved in Il-76 crash

Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan has published a list of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who she alleges were on board the Il-76 aircraft that crashed – but one of them is a soldier who had been swapped earlier.

Source: Russian media outlet Meduza; WarTears

Details: Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Kremlin-aligned media outlet RT, published a list of 65 names. The 22nd name on the list is Maksym Konovalenko, born on 3 September 1990.

According to WarTears, which publishes the personal information of Ukrainians held captive by the Russians, a soldier with the same name and date of birth was swapped on 3 January 2024.

Ukrainian media outlets have confirmed this as well. Novynarnia previously published a list of all the captives who were swapped on 3 January, and Maksym Konovalenko is indeed among them. The list was provided by the families and friends of the released prisoners.

According to WarTears, Maksym Konovalenko was captured at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol in April 2022. At the time, he was a sniper in the 35th Separate Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On 3 January, the 35th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi reported on Facebook that eight soldiers of the brigade had been released from Russian captivity that day.

Released soldier Maksym Kolesnikov said in a tweet he posted on X that the Russian information about the prisoners of war on the Il-76 was "100% lies".

Quote: "The Russian Ministry of War said there were 65 prisoners of war, 6 crew members and 3 (THREE) accompanying people on board the Il-76.

This is complete bulls**t. When I was taken by plane from Bryansk to Belgorod, there were about 20 of their military police for 50 prisoners. Three guards. Yeah, right."

Background: 

• An Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Korocha district of Russia's Belgorod Oblast. A Russian investigation team and the Emergency Situations Ministry are working at the scene. The Russian Ministry of Defence has claimed that there were 65 Ukrainian soldiers on board who were being transported for a prisoner swap.
• An Ukrainska Pravda source said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were involved in the downing of the aircraft. At the same time, another Ukrainska Pravda source did not confirm this information.

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