Ukraine says it has intelligence suggesting only five bodies were delivered from the crash site of a Russian military transport plane to a nearby morgue, a Ukraine military intelligence official told CNN, casting doubt on Moscow’s claim that dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the explosion.
Moscow says the plane was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war, while Kyiv says it was carrying Russian missiles to be used in further strikes on Ukraine.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (DI), told CNN the number of bodies brought to the morgue matched the number of crew members on the plane.
Moscow claimed all 74 people on board – comprising six crew members, three military escorts and 65 Ukrainian servicemen – were killed in the crash.
A Russian regional governor posted a list of names of the people he said made up the six-person crew.
Russia initially failed to produce visual evidence to back up its claims there were Ukrainian soldiers on the plane.
Ukraine’s military command said it regarded Russian military aircraft approaching Belgorod as legitimate target, but did not confirm it had fired at the plane. »
