UNITED NATIONS, January 26. /TASS/. Members of the Ukrainian government are burying themselves ever deeper in the lies about its downing of the Il-76 of the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"What we have seen so far were primitive and cowardly attempts by representatives of the Kiev authorities to disavow any responsibility for this crime, contrary to the obvious facts. By doing so, they have embarrassed and confused themselves and are burying themselves in this lie ever deeper," he told the UN Security Council.

In the diplomat’s words, "the Kiev regime, for some inexplicable reason decided to thwart it [the prisoner swap with Russia] in the most barbaric way possible."

"It is important to understand whether we are talking about a lack of coordination among Ukrainian military and someone's independent initiative, or about a deliberate, well-considered crime that does not fit into any moral frame of references," he said.

The Russian diplomat informed the UN Security Council that immediately after the attack, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces "issued a triumphant statement, from which it follows that the plane had been deliberately downed by valiant Ukrainian soldiers." "The news went viral on Ukrainian media," he continued.

"However as soon as it was clear that there had been Ukrainian PoWs on board, the Kiev regime panicked and started to "cover tracks" feverishly. The initial confessions about the involvement of the Ukrainian armed forces were very cleverly "cleaned up" on the Internet. At the same time, new absurd versions started to emerge," the Russian diplomat added.

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. No one 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.