Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately shooting down the military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to the prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people.

We really hope that the UNSC will fulfill its good faith and to schedule the meeting as soon as possible, Lavrov stressed who is paying a visit to UN headquarters in New York.

Lavrov said at a press conference that the reasons behind the act, which occurred in the Belgorod region while the aircraft was transporting Ukrainian prisoners to be exchanged as part of an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, are still being investigated.

“The Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to conduct yet another swap that was agreed between Moscow and Kyiv,” Lavrov said.

“Instead of this, the Ukrainian side launched an air defense missile from the Kharkov region. It targeted the airplane and was a fatal strike.”

Ukrainian military intelligence said Kyiv was not asked to ensure air space security on Wednesday around the Belgorod area in southern Russia, as had been the case during previous prisoner of war swaps with Moscow.

It said Russia’s accusations that Kyiv shot down the transport plane could be “a planned action to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our state.”

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