ICRC on the crash of the IL-76: if Ukrainian prisoners died in the crash, Russia must return their bodies as soon as possible
Kyiv • UNN
Oleksandr Vlasenko, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, says that all dead Ukrainian prisoners of war from the downed IL-76 should be returned to Ukraine. The ICRC has received civilian requests for information about 17,000 missing persons.
If the Russian claim that Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the downing of the IL-76 is true, their bodies should be returned to Ukraine. This was stated by the spokesman for the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, Oleksandr Vlasenko, on Radio Liberty, UNN reports.
If we talk about the bodies of the dead, the bodies should be returned as soon as possible. ... If there are bodies of military personnel killed in this disaster (the crash of the Russian IL-76 - ed.), then of course they should be returned.
Details
However, the ICRC representative noted that little time had passed since the crash before Russia began to make statements about its readiness to return the bodies of the Ukrainian victims.
Very little time has passed since that moment for such statements to be made, for such signals to be made (that Russia is ready to give Ukraine the bodies - ed.) That is, usually, more time has to pass for the parties to conduct such an exchange.
A spokesperson for the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine explained that such exchanges are regular: "Bodies are exchanged all the time. If we are talking about the bodies of the dead, it is absurd to talk about their re-engagement in the conflict.
According to Vlasenko, as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, the ICRC received a total of 17,000 appeals from citizens requesting information about missing persons.
"That is, we are looking for 17 thousand people. And I know that in the fourth quarter there were also quite a few such appeals, so this figure is clearly higher, it's just that it hasn't been counted yet, because it's still January. And it's hard for me to say whether those who wanted to know the fate of possible people who were allegedly scheduled for exchange or whether they were new appeals, but of course, appeals are coming in, in principle, in a regular flow, and they were also yesterday and the day before yesterday, every day," he said.
Context
On January 24, an Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the Korochany district of the Belgorod region of Russia. the Russian Defense Ministry said that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board, who were being transported for exchange.
Also, the Russians immediately statedthat 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.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin saidthat Russian air defense systems could never have shot down their own plane, so the responsibility for the downing of the IL-76 allegedly lies with Ukraine.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov condemned the UN and the Red Cross for their inaction in the investigation of the downing of the Russian Il-76 aircraft.
