UN embraces Russian foreign minister but still "has no right" to see Il-76 crash site – Ukraine's Security Council Secretary

Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has called on the public to wait for all the circumstances of the Il-76 crash in Russia to be established, and responded to the statement of UN Deputy Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, who said that "the United Nations is not in a position to verify these reports or the circumstances of the crash".

Source: Danilov in a comment to Ukrainske Radio

Details: Danilov said that Russia is trying to make itself look innocent in this case, as it has done after all its other crimes. He also criticised the inaction of the United Nations.

Quote: "I ask everyone not to make any early conclusions until the circumstances are finally established. We understand that Russia is a devious country. Therefore, we will wait for final conclusions. The situation is under the control of Ukraine's top military and political leadership. We understand what is happening and where. There is not much time left to wait until we finally find out what happened there...

I want to remind you that the war was started by Russia. In 2008, it was Russia that attacked Georgia. The whole world closed its mouth and watched in silence. In 2014, Russia seized Crimea. The whole world watched this process with its mouth and eyes shut. And when we fought back in February 2022, the West began to understand things differently. The West is afraid of Russia, and this is a great tragedy. When they are afraid of Russia and afraid of its use of nuclear weapons, which it uses to blackmail the whole world... This will pass. We have been through worse kinds of disinformation campaigns that Russia launches from time to time...

The UN is a strange institution, it embraces [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov and welcomes him with open arms, and yet it has no right to visit the place where, in their opinion, the tragedy took place. So what kind of [organisation] this UN is, then? What does it do?"

Background:

• A Russian Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Korocha district of Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated the plane was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.
• Following the downing of a Russian Il-76 transport aircraft in the Russian Federation's Belgorod Oblast, a number of Russian media outlets cited Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Defence. He claimed that the plane contained dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been taken for exchange, and Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that he was looking into the situation.
• A few hours after the information about the crash appeared, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine issued a statement in which it hinted that this plane was a military target and was transporting ammunition for the Russian army.
• Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed that the swap scheduled for 24 January did not take place, but they had no information about the Ukrainian prisoners on board the Il-76.
• The White House stated that it does not yet have enough information to determine what happened to the Il-76 plane that crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on 24 January.
• Andrii Yusov said that Russian officials were supposed to be on board the Il-76, but at the last minute, the FSB forbade them to board, and only five bodies were delivered to the local morgue after the incident. He also suggested that the plane could have been carrying both missiles and people.
• Russia was supposed to hand over information to the International Committee of the Red Cross about Ukrainian prisoners of war who were supposedly in an Il-76 military aircraft, but has not yet done so.

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