MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The future prospects of prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine are unclear so far, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

When asked whether the swap has been put on hold by now, he said that "nothing can be said" regarding the future prospects of this process so far.

Speaking about the consequences of the elimination of Russia’s Il-76 military transport plane by the Ukrainian armed forces, Peskov said that "no one can tell how this will affect the prospects of the continuation of this process (prisoner swap - TASS)." "But I should repeat that this is a process (prisoner swap - TASS) that should be held in absolute silence," he added.

On January 24, the Ukrainian armed forces shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod Region that was carrying captured Ukrainian troops selected to be included in the exchange. There were 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian military personnel, all of whom were killed. The Russian Defense Ministry called what happened a terrorist act and stressed that Kiev knew about the transportation of prisoners for the exchange, which was to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint, and purposely attacked the plane in order to accuse Moscow of destroying Ukrainian military personnel.