Paris, January 25 – According to a French military source, the Ukrainian Armed Forces may have shot down a Russian Il-76 aircraft carrying Ukrainian prisoners using the American-made Patriot missile system. This information was reported by the radio station France Info. The message states, “The Il-76 aircraft was hit by the Ukrainian army’s Patriot missile system, which is of American origin.” On Wednesday, January 24, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a military transport plane, Il-76, over the Belgorod region. The aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners for exchange. It also had six crew members and three escorts on board, and there were no survivors. Prior to the crash, Russian military officials detected the launch of two anti-aircraft missiles from the territory of the Kharkiv region. The Russian Ministry of Defense emphasized that the Kyiv regime was aware of the transportation of Ukrainian servicemen for the planned exchange, which was supposed to take place later that day on the border of the Belgorod and Sumy regions. The Kremlin described the killing of its own citizens by Ukraine as a monstrous act, as these individuals were supposed to return home in a few hours. In turn, Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma, instructed the preparation of an appeal to the American Congress and the Bundestag, as it is the United States and Germany that supply Ukraine with the Patriot and Iris-T anti-aircraft missile systems.
