Russia's Investigative Committee opened a probe into the crash
A representational image AFP

A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane carrying at least 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine on Wednesday. Russia said all the passengers in the plane were killed.

The aircraft was carrying the Ukrainian prisoners of war ahead of a prisoner swap.

All those on board the Il-76 transport plane were killed, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

"On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members and three escorts," the Russian defense ministry said, as reported by the state news agency RIA Novosti.

The publication said that "a transport plane... fell into a field near a populated area. Everyone on board died." The scene of the emergency was cordoned off.

The plane crashed about 3 to 3.7 miles away from the village of Yablonovo in the Korocha District of Belgorod region, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

According to a local cleric, Rev. Georgy, "no damage was done to the village, as it [the plane] crashed in a field outside of the village."

Currently, there is no immediate information available regarding the cause of the incident.

Last year, the Ukrainian attacks in Belgorod witnessed one of the deadliest incidents on Russian soil. The assaults claimed the lives of at least 24 people, including three children, and left 108 others wounded, triggering retaliatory Russian strikes on the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, as per CNN.

The recent plane crash occurs as Russia's war in Ukraine approaches its third year, marked by minimal battlefield progress. Russian strikes on Ukraine on Tuesday killed 18 people and wounded 130, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, warning that the death toll could increase as rescue efforts were ongoing.

Amid the conflict, Kyiv and Moscow have engaged in prisoner exchanges, with the largest swap taking place in January, when two sides exchanged over 200 prisoners.

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