The information war after the Belgorod plane crash has been intense.
Russia claims that Ukrainian prisoners died, Ukraine that it was a deliberate act from the Russian side.
Ukraine now states that several top Russian military personnel were told not to board the plane.
– The FSB ordered them not to board the plane, says Ukrainian intelligence chief Andriy Yusov.
There have been many tours around the crashed military plane in Belgorod. Initially, information came from Ukrainian state media that the plane had been shot down by Ukraine and that it was loaded with Russian military equipment. That information was then withdrawn.
Russia claims 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were on the plane and the Russian governor of the region announced that none survived.
A prisoner exchange was planned
The Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR announced that a prisoner exchange was planned and that the Russian prisoners were in place at the appointed time. At the same time, it is stated that there is no reliable information that there should have been Ukrainian prisoners on the plane that crashed.
On Telegram, the Ukrainian military security service stated that it could not see any bodies from the clips shared from the place where the plane crashed. The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Andriy Yusov, believes that they received information via intelligence data that only five bodies have been transported to the Belgorod morgue after the accident.
– That figure corresponds to the number of crew members on the plane, says Andriy Yusov in an interview with Ukrainian media.
Ukraine: Ordered not to board the plane
After the attack, Russia was accused of “deliberate actions on the part of Russia aimed at creating a threat to the lives and safety of prisoners”.
More accusations are now coming from Ukraine that point to the fact that it was a deliberate action on the part of Russia.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Andriy Yusov, believes that several high-ranking military and political officials would have boarded the plane, but were stopped at the last second by the Russian security service, the FSB.
– The FSB ordered them not to board the plane, says Jusov in an interview.
He also states that they received information about who these people were and that their identities will be revealed.
“Planned and intentional acts”
Before the flight, Russia should not have informed Ukraine about keeping the airspace free. According to GUR, flights with prisoners are always discussed in advance, which they believe indicates that the whole thing was planned.
“Based on this, we can talk about planned and deliberate actions by Russia to destabilize the situation and weaken support for Ukraine internationally,” writes GUR.
Meanwhile, a former Russian general with close ties to the Ministry of Defense says a warning was sent to Ukraine 15 minutes before the plane crashed.