UNITED NATIONS, January 25. /TASS/. The United States is trying to obtain information and establish the facts shedding light on what happened to the Ilyushin-76 military transport plane, shot down by Ukrainian forces troops in the Belgorod Region, US Alternate Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood told the media.

A UN Security Council meeting requested by Russia on the downed Il-76, which was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war, is scheduled for Thursday.

"We're still trying to ascertain the facts of what happened," Wood said. "Obviously, it's a terrible loss of life."

Wood added that Washington was "in touch with Ukraine."

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 military personnel. 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 accuse Moscow of the attack.