Day 703 of Russia's aggression against Ukraine is underway. On the wPolitce.pl website, we report events on the front for you.

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Saturday, January 27 2024

00:01. Putin: Ukraine shot down the Il-76 plane most likely with an American or French missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the Russian military plane that crashed on Wednesday near the border with Ukraine was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, but it was not clear whether it was intentional or not.

However, what happened was a crime. Whether due to negligence or intention, however, it is a criminal act

– added the leader of the aggressor country.

Moscow accused Kiev of shooting down an Ilyushin Il-76 airliner over Russia's Belgorod region and killing all 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Putin said the missiles fired most likely came from America or France, but that would be determined for sure within two to three days.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it shot down the plane and has denied Moscow's account of who was on the plane and what happened.

Ukraine denied Russia's claim that it had been warned in advance that planes carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war would fly over the region southwest of Belgorod. He also stated that there were discrepancies in the list of 65 Ukrainians allegedly on board the plane published by Russian media.

Putin said the plane could not have been shot down by Russia because Russia's air defense system had protections that prevented it from attacking its own plane.

There's a friend or foe system out there and no matter how hard the operator presses the button, our air defense system won't fire.

– he says.

Red/PAP/TT/FB