For an “inexplicable reason, Kiev decided to sabotage the procedure in the most barbaric way,” Poljansky said at the meeting in New York. Ukraine is “ready to sacrifice its own citizens for the geopolitical interests of the West.”
However, Ukraine’s deputy UN ambassador Chrystyna Hajovyshyn said Ukraine had not been informed about the number and type of transport used to transport the prisoners. “This alone could represent deliberate actions by Russia to endanger the lives and safety of prisoners.”
If the information is confirmed that there were Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the plane, this would be a “serious violation of international humanitarian law by Russia,” said Hajovyshyn. It would be “the first case of use of an airborne human shield” by Russia to cover weapons shipments.
According to Russian media, the Ilyushin plane crashed in the border region of Belgorod on Wednesday. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board who were on their way to a prisoner exchange near the Ukrainian border. Moscow accuses Ukraine of shooting down the plane.
The UN Security Council meeting on the crash was requested by Russia. Representatives of Western states emphasized at the meeting that the crash would never have occurred without Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Russia has repeatedly sought to shift responsibility for the tragedies of this senseless and self-imposed war onto others, as if it were the victim rather than the aggressor,” said U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood.
