He shared the statement on the Espreso TV channel.
“Russia is trying to spread a number of manipulations. They are not using facts, but emotional statements. The first report on the Il-76 in the Russian information space stated that the aircraft was allegedly shot down by Russian air defence systems. In other words, it was almost a copycat, as was the case with the A-50 and Il-22.
Then there is information that there were Ukrainian prisoners of war on board this plane, who were being prepared for an exchange. This raises a lot of questions. It is known that prisoners of war are hardly ever transported by plane, they are either transported by rail or by road. But there are 65 prisoners and only three guards. According to official documents, namely Order No. 140 of 7 March 2006 on convoys: 2 guards for 1 or 2 prisoners, 3 guards for 3-6 prisoners, 7 guards for 7-10 prisoners," Kovalenko explained.
According to the military and political observer of the Information Resistance group, the footage did not show any bodies of the dead, i.e. a large field in the snow with no bodies on it.
"The remains of the IL-76 were scattered within a 5 km radius, and there was little left of them. This indicates that there was not only fuel on board this aircraft, which detonated during the crash, but also other cargo that could have detonated and destroyed the aircraft even more. There is also an interesting point that this particular aircraft was constantly involved as the so-called 'Iranian Express'. That is, this aircraft flew to Iran to pick up Shahed 136 'kamikaze' drones and other military cargo.
But you have to understand that the Russians will do anything to make this PSYOP as deadly as possible. If they don't have enough dead bodies to prove it, they can arrange for them, that's the problem. If they lack any other evidence for their version of the story, they can do that as well. And this is the biggest danger in this situation," Kovalenko stressed.