There are still big questions as to just who was on the plane, which was filmed as it spiralled into a fiery crash near Belgorod.
Yusov said only five bodies were delivered to the Belgorod morgue. Ukrainian journalists from Radio Liberty managed to confirm at least three of them were Russian crew members.
Russia has released a list of names of those who were supposedly killed, and Ukraine’s Coordination Staff on Treatment of POWs confirmed that the list of 65 POWs published by Russia was the actual exchange plan for that day.
But the Kremlin’s actions in the aftermath of the crash are raising suspicion in Kyiv that Russia is lying.
“Russia immediately announced that it would not allow international experts to investigate the Il-76M crash. However, Ukraine will use all tools to find out the true reasons for what happened, as well as who or what was transported in that plane,” said Serhiy Andrushchenko, the deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, adding that Ukraine needs more time to collect evidence through its sources in Russia.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, a law-enforcement agency, published a video from the crash scene with one body fragment showing a tattoo, claiming this was evidence that the POWs were on board, as these kinds of tattoos are often seen on soldiers from Ukraine’s Azov battalion.
