Top Russian officials ordered not to fly on doomed plane

Senior Russian officials were due to fly on the doomed military plane that crashed Wednesday, killing around 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war – but were stopped “at the last moment” by their security services, according to Ukraine.

The claim came as gruesome new video showed apparent charred human remains at the scene of the crashed plane, which Russia has blamed Ukraine for downing as it flew to a prisoner exchange.

“It is known that there were indeed several VIPs from the military and political representation of the state aggressor due to fly on the Il-76,” Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, told Radio Svoboda.

“But at the last moment, the FSB [Russian Security Services] actually ordered them not to board the plane and to use other means of transport,” he claimed.

“This information came to light after the event happened.”

Yusov also claimed officials from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations who arrived to inspect the crash site in the Belgorod region were “driven out” by FSB agents.

“They were not given the opportunity to inspect the site and locate the wreckage, according to the protocol,” said the Ukrainian spokesman.

Gruesome new video recorded at the crash site and released by Russia showed what appeared to be charred human remains scattered across the snow-covered ground.

Russia claimed that there were 65 PoWs, six crew members and three security guards aboard the military transport when it was struck by a Ukrainian-made surface-to-air missile. Ukraine’s Yusov said that only five bodies were delivered from the location of the wreckage to the local morgue in Belgorod.

Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied shooting down the aircraft – but has not ruled out that Russia was using PoWs as human shields.

Andrei Kartopolov, a former general with close ties to Russia’s defense ministry, told lawmakers Thursday that Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before the Il-76 plane entered the Belgorod zone – a claim Kyiv refuted.

Yusov said that contrary to practice before previous PoW exchanges, Ukrainian officials had received no requests from Russia to hold fire in the airspace where the plane was downed.

“No evidence has been provided for the charges … Nothing has been shown to prove the wreckage and the presence of people on board,” he said.

Ukraine had been using reconnaissance drones in the area, and that Russia had launched attack drones, Yusov said. There was “no confirmed information” that Ukrainian forces had hit any targets, he said.

“Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons for S-300 systems,” he told Radio Svoboda.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said he believed the incident was a planned Russian “false flag” plot. He said a list of Ukrainian PoW casualties, which was shared after the crash by Russian news outlets, included soldiers already returned in a previous swap.

With Post wires