Ministry says aircraft that went down in border region of Belgorod was carrying prisoners who were to be swapped
A Russian military transport plane has crashed in the border region of Belgorod, according to Russia’s defence ministry.
The ministry said the aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoWs who were to be swapped. The ministry added that onboard the Ilyushin Il-76 were also six crew and three other people.
The Belgorod regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said all 74 people onboard had died.
Does anyone transport POWs by plane? Isn’t it too dangerous and doesn’t usually require the speed air provides? They mentioned 74 people total and say 65 were POWs. Then it leaves 9 people of personel including a crew of 5 (based on wikipedia), so did it have just 4 guards? I’m not well versed in math or military logistics, but it sounds sketchy. Maybe POWs here are mentioned to make other side worried (for if they downed it, per the OP’s article) and cover it with a tint of conspiracy, while it was e.g. military cargo or personel? Deflecting the argument is pretty much what enemies do.
I’d wait before more details show up, like satelite imagery of a crash site before making conclusions. For now this potato is just too hot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-76#Specifications_(Il-76TD)