Photos from the Il-76 crash site in Russia’s Belgorod region show no sign of bodies or body parts scattered across the field, Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko noted as first pictures emerged online.
“Remember the MH-17 disaster? The entire field was strewn with the debris and body parts. Or recall Yevgeny Prigozhin’s business jet, much smaller and with fewer passengers on board – the first footage from the crash site already contained passengers’ remains” Kovalenko said.
Photo: social media
Earlier in the day, less than in an hour after the plane plunged to the ground, Russia’s defense officials rushed to claim the Il-76 transport aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs bound for swap.
“OSINT analysts confirmed the fact that the Il-76 aircraft, RA-78830, was flying to Russia via Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, then disappeared from radar somewhere near Syria, and then popped back up over Belgorod region. A very strange route for delivering captured Ukrainians,” Kovalenko added.
Moreover, the Russians went on to claim that only three guards were accompanying the entire group of 65 POWs. This is a critically low number for such a group, which would totally violate regulations, the expert points out.
According to the Russia’s MoD, there were 74 people on board, including 6 crew members.
Ukrainian military analysts’ main version is that the Il-76 cargo was a batch of S-300 surface-to-air guided missiles, which Russian army fires to attack Ukraine’s Kharkiv and other cities.
“The fact that almost nothing was left of the plane after it hit the ground and that it parts have been scattered across the 5-km-area only solidifies this version. Can you imagine the power of that detonation upon impact?” Kovalenko concludes.