On Jan. 31, Planet Labs satellite images of the crash site of the Russian Il-76 military transport plane show that it left a trail of about 500 meters when it fell.
The first satellite images of the Il-76 crash site have appeared
The plane crashed on January 24 near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the plane fell due to the use of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex.
Immediately after the plane crashed, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that there were allegedly 65 captured Ukrainian servicemen on board, who were being taken for exchange, as well as six crew members and three escorts.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) confirmed that the exchange of prisoners of war was planned for January 24. Still, it did not take place and emphasized that "the department does not have data on whether Ukrainian prisoners were on board."
Who had to fly in Il-76?
DIU officers managed to find out that Russian top-ranking officials were supposed to fly on board the Il-76 plane, which crashed in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation on January 24.
DIU speaker Andriy Yusov officially confirmed that at the last moment, the FSB forbade them to board.
According to him, only five bodies were taken to the local morgue after the disaster.
A few official VIPs from the military and political elite of the aggressor state were indeed supposed to be on board. Their names are known and will be named, the materials will be provided as part of the international investigation, added the DIU speaker.
