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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Lugansk militias shoot down a Ukrainian army plane - Ukrainian Defence Ministry

In the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic has been neither confirmed nor denied this information

© ITAR-TASS/EPA/VALENTINA SVISTUNOVA

KIEV, June 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry claims that the self-defence forces in Lugansk have shot down Ukraine’s Il-76 army aircraft. At least 49 people were on board, the CNN reports citing Ukraine’s military sources.

An Il-76 plane which was carrying troops for the purpose of regular rotation was shot down when landing at Lugansk airport on the night from June 13 to 14.

There were troops, hardware, equipment and food on board the plane, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry wrote on its website.

The information that local defenders in Lugansk shot down an Ukrainian military transport Ilyushin-76 plane has been neither confirmed nor denied yet in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic.

"We do not comment on the reports so far," the press service of the republic told Itar-Tass.

A Lugansk press service source also denied media reports that Ukrainian forces resumed artillery shelling of Lugansk's suburbs in the morning. "It is not true. Checkpoints near the town of Schastye and the village of Luganskaya were shelled late in the evening yesterday," the source said.

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Ukraine Eastern Ukraine

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