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Military operation in Ukraine

Russia to analyze evidence of downing of its Il-76 military plane

Accoding to the source, the probe currently involves military investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee and military experts in aviation

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Multiple rounds of complex expert examination will be held in the wake of a recent Russian military plane crash to document the evidence of it having been downed by Ukrainian missiles, the emergency services official told TASS.

"In addition, the wreckage of the aircraft fuselage will be laid out on the ground <…> to establish which specific place of it was affected by an external factor," the official explained. According to emergencies services, experts have found around 10 large fragments of the plane that crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s borderline region of Belgorod.

The probe currently involves military investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee (IC) and military experts in aviation, the emergency services official said. Also, representatives from the Ilyushin Design Bureau and the Aviastar plant which designed and built the aircraft will also be involved in the work.

Earlier, emergency services reported finding fragments of an anti-aircraft guided missile near the site of the crash. The IC has launched a criminal probe into the crash.

On January 24, the Ukrainian armed forces shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane that was carrying captured Ukrainian troops selected to be included in a prisoner 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. The missiles were launched from an air defense system in the village of Liptsy in Kharkov Region.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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