NEW YORK: Russian has called for an emergency meeting of the UNSC after its military plane came down near the Russian city of Belgorod, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Lavrov said at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York that they have asked for an urgent meeting of the UNSC on Thursday. He hoped that the French presidency of the Security Council will conscientiously fulfill its jobs and schedule such a meeting immediately.
He said the downing of the Aeroplan was a Ukrainian “criminal act,” saying they are trying to find out the facts right now.
Moscow Calls for Emergency UNSC Meeting Over Plane Crash
His statement came after the military plane, en route to Ukraine for a prisoner swap, was shot down by that country’s forces in the region of Belgorod. The crash killed 65 Ukrainian troops onboard, as well as six crew members and 3 escorts.
The Russian Ministry of Defence called the crash “a terrorist attack” organized to blame Russia of killing Ukrainian troops and claimed Ukrainian officials were “well aware of the planned transportation” with the aim of further exchange. Russia said that an IL-76 military transport plane carrying about 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed in the western Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine.
However, Ukraine did not immediately confirm or reject it, but its intelligence said it had no information regarding who was on the plane when it went down.
