MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. The State Duma will discuss at a plenary meeting on Thursday a draft address to US Congress over the use of a US-made Patriot missile system in last week’s attack on the Russian Il-76 military plane with Ukrainian POWs, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced.

"The State Duma will consider addressing US Congress today as Kiev’s criminal regime committed yet another terrorist act with US assistance. The expert analysis showed that the Il-76 military plane which carried Ukrainian POWs was downed in the Belgorod Region with the use of a US-made Patriot system," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it had already been established that Ukraine used a US-made Patriot system to shoot down the Russian Il-76 plane with Ukrainian POWs last week.

On January 24, the Ukrainian military shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod Region. The aircraft was carrying captive Ukrainian soldiers who were supposed to be exchanged in a prisoner swap at the Ukraine-Russia border. The crash killed all 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian POWs. The Russian Defense Ministry described the incident as a terrorist attack, pointing out that Kiev had been aware of the mission to transport Ukrainian POWs for a prisoner swap, set to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint. However, Kiev attacked the plane in order to accuse Moscow of killing Ukrainian service members.