Il-76 crash: US interested in getting as much information as possible

The United States has continued to monitor the issue of the Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft crash and has been interested in obtaining as many details as possible related to the incident.

Source: Ukrinform citing John Kirby, White House National Security Council Coordinator, at a briefing

Quote: "We’re watching this and we’re — we’re certainly interested in getting as much information as we can."

Details: Kirby also noted that the US cannot make any official conclusions at this stage.

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. The Russian Defence Ministry said the plane was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to Belgorod for a swap. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, "two Ukrainian missiles were fired", killing 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian POWs.
• Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan published a list of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who she alleges were on board the Il-76 aircraft that crashed. Only the names of the six dead crew members are known to the media.
• Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed that the swap scheduled for 24 January did not take place, but they had no information about Ukrainian prisoners on board the Il-76. In the previous swap, prisoners had been delivered by plane, but Ukraine had been made aware of that in advance.
• The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said, without mentioning the Il-76, that it was taking all measures to protect Ukraine and Ukrainians.
• 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. He said only five bodies were delivered to the local morgue after the incident. Yusov also suggested that the plane could have been carrying both missiles and people.
• Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets also pointed to the lack of evidence that many people were killed in the crash.

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