The Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down an Il-76 aircraft over Belgorod.
The IL-76 military aircraft was transporting 65 Ukrainian POW for exchange with Russian POW, along with 6 crew members and 3 escorts.
The captured Ukrainian servicemen were being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange.
Another Il-76 carrying 80 Ukrainian prisoners of war turned back, said the head of the Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov.
“The Ukrainian leadership was well aware of the impending exchange and was informed of how the prisoners would be delivered,” he said during a speech in the State Duma
After the crash of the IL-76 in the Belgorod region, prisoner exchanges between the Russian Federation and Ukraine will apparently be put on pause.
Yeah this does have a bit of a Hannibal directive vibe to it. But i think it’s more likely that this was yet another Ukrainian fuck-up.
I mean i wouldn’t put it past them to decide that trading the lives of 60 conscripts for one Russian transport plane plus crew was worth it. Problem is they lost more than just these POWs, they also lost all of the POWs that they would have gotten back in future exchanges that are now not going to happen anymore seeing as Ukraine can’t even be trusted to abide by promises to guarantee the prisoners’ safe transport.