Russia accused Ukraine of intentionally shooting down a military transport plane on Wednesday killing all 74 people on board, the majority of whom were Ukrainian POWs en route to a negotiated prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv.
Several hours later, the ministry said Russian radars had detected the launch of two Ukrainian missiles shortly before the plane went down and accused Kyiv of attempting to pin blame for the incident on Moscow in a false flag-style operation.
Video posted to a pro-Kremlin social media channel appeared to capture the aircraft's final moments descending at a sharp incline toward the earth before exploding in a massive fireball. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Russia's local governor in Belgorod, had warned of a potential rocket attack by Ukraine in the minutes before the incident.
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