Putin says Ukraine shot down plane, intentionally or by mistake.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied shooting down the plane and has disputed Moscow's version of who was on board and what happened.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a Russian military plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine on Wednesday was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, either intentionally or by mistake.
Moscow accuses Kiev of shooting down the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft in the Belgorod region of Russia. and kill 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian soldiers captured on their way to be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. Russia has presented no evidence. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied shooting down the plane and has disputed Moscow's version of who was on board and what happened.
"I don't know if they did it on purpose or by mistake, but it's obvious they did it," Putin said in televised comments, his first on the accident. "In any case, what happened is a crime. Whether through negligence or on purpose, it's a crime."
Ukraine disputes Russia's claim that it was warned in advance that a plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war would be flying over the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia at that time. It also said there were discrepancies in a list published by Russian media of the 65 Ukrainians who were allegedly on the aircraft.
Putin said the plane could not have been shot down by Russian "friendly fire" because Russia's air defense systems have safeguards to prevent them from attacking their own aircraft. "There are 'friend or foe' systems, and no matter how hard the operator pushes the button, our air defense systems wouldn't work," he said. Putin said the missiles fired were likely American or French, but that would be established with certainty in two or three days.
An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin's comments were a "classic disinformation campaign." "First of all, look closely. We are fighting, but (for Putin) Ukraine is doing something wrong in terms of the rules and customs of war," Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian television. "And secondly, there is something much more important for the Russians. They want to take away our right to receive missiles from our partners for our air defense systems."
The Russian Investigative Committee previously reported that Ukrainian identity documents and tattooed body parts were recovered from the crash site.