Budanov met with relatives of prisoners of war who could have been on IL-76
Kyiv • UNN
Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov met with relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who may have been on board the Russian Il-76M plane that recently crashed. He stated that there is currently no reliable information about the passengers of the plane, and that Russia's statement about the transportation of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange requires further investigation.
A meeting with relatives and friends of Ukrainian prisoners of war was held at the Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. This was reported on the Facebook page of the headquarters, UNN reports.
Details
They answered questions from relatives of the defenders:
- Head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov,
- First Deputy Head of the SBU Serhiy Andrushchenko,
- Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters Dmytro Usov,
- Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksiy Hromov,
- Head of the Joint Center of the Security Service of Ukraine Andriy Pasternak.
The main topic of discussion was the situation with the crash of the Russian military aircraft Il-76M in the Belgorod region of Russia on January 24, which, according to the aggressor state's propaganda resources, allegedly carried Ukrainian prisoners.
The head of the Coordination Center, Kirill Budanov, emphasized that there is currently no reliable and comprehensive information about who might have actually been on board the plane.
We are collecting and thoroughly analyzing all available information on this matter from a wide range of sources. So far, there is no information that would indicate that that plane could have carried that many people. At the same time, the version of Russian propaganda that the IL-76M could have been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange still raises many questions
At the same time, he said, it takes more time to collect all the information.
Serhiy Andrushchenko emphasized that the Security Service of Ukraine had taken all the necessary security measures to ensure the silence regime at the exchange site.
During the meeting, Dmytro Usov voiced that the Russian side had responded to repeated requests with a long delay, referring to one of the lists previously published on Russian propaganda resources.
The Coordination Center, for its part, confirms that 65 Ukrainian defenders from this list were indeed scheduled to be returned to Ukraine as part of the planned exchange on January 24.
At the same time, the interviewed relatives of the Ukrainian defenders on the list, having watched the videos shown by Russian propagandists allegedly from the crash site, have not yet found any special signs on the published body fragments that would indicate their relatives.
Recall
On January 24, an Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the Korochany district of Belgorod region of Russia. the Russian Defense Ministry said that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board, who were being transported for exchange.
The Russians also immediately claimed that the plane was allegedly shot down by Ukraine.
The Main Directorate of Ukrainian Intelligence statedthat there is currently no reliable and comprehensive information about who exactly was on board the downed Russian Il-76 aircraft and in what number.
