UNITED NATIONS, January 26. /TASS/. During the latest meeting of the UN Security Council, Ukraine’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Kristina Gayovishin, said nothing to indicate that her country has nothing to do with the downing of Russia’s Il-76 plane near the Ukrainian border, Russia’s deputy UN envoy said.
"During her speech, I heard nothing indicating that they [the Ukrainian government] were not involved in this," Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.
He also described Gayovishin’s speech as "paranoid and delusional."
"Apparently, my colleague was instructed to keep lying and trying to whitewash the Kiev regime," the Russian diplomat added.
On January 24 Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft that was carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers for exchange. All 74 people onboard, including 65 Ukrainians, were killed in the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry called the incident a terrorist act and said Kiev knew about the transportation of prisoners for an exchange that was to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint. The ministry said Ukraine attacked the plane so Kiev could blame Moscow for taking the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.