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Military operation in Ukraine

Kiev has not suspended POW exchanges after attack on Il-76 — Russian Foreign Ministry

Over the past day, 195 Russian servicemen were exchanged for 195 Ukrainian servicemen

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. The situation with the Ilyushin-76 caused fears that Kiev might take advantage of the situation and suspend prisoner-of-war exchanges, but this has not happened, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said in a commentary.

"The transfer of the detainees was supposed to take place on January 24, but it was disrupted by the Zelensky regime, which ordered the downing of the Ilyushin-76 military transport plane carrying Ukrainian military for an exchange. The tragedy caused fears that Kiev would use the situation to suspend such exchanges indefinitely or abandon it altogether. We can state that this has not happened," she said.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier reported that Russia continued prisoner exchanges with Ukraine. Over the past day, 195 Russian servicemen were exchanged for 195 Ukrainian servicemen. The UAE brokered the swap.

On January 24, the Ukrainian military shot down a Russian Ilyushin-76 military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange over the territory of Belgorod Region. There were 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian POWs. Nobody survived. The Russian Defense Ministry called what happened a terrorist act and stressed that Kiev had prior knowledge of the transportation of POWs for the exchange, which was to take place at the Kolotilovka border checkpoint, and attacked the plane in order to eventually blame the attack on Moscow.

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Foreign policy Maria Zakharova Military operation in Ukraine

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