Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/24/russian-military-transport-plane-crashes-killing-74.html
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Russia claims it was shot down by Ukraine and that 65 of the dead were Ukrainian prisoners of war.
'And … and, there was also a shipment of orphaned kittens on board! That’s the ticket!"
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This reminded me immediately of the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” episode "Rules of Engagement (S04E17)…
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What a cluster fuck.
I give it a 50/50 odds right now that Ukraine shot it down not knowing there were POWs onboard, and Russia not maintaining their planes and having a mechanical failure cause the crash.
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http://nitter.net/wartranslated/status/1750194752576729372
The statement by HUR is quite ambiguous. Reads like Russians have purposefully set up a trap knowing Ukraine would attack a plane in the vicinity that has not been designated as carrying pows. I’m not sure if Russia normally flies planes in this area.
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(Not quoting you, I know…)
That interpretation sounds like Russia would deliberately put in danger/sacrifice one of its air crew (and planes) so that if/when Ukraine shot them down, Russia would have a ‘gotcha’.
Fits with everything else that psychopath Putin does.
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If it was on purpose, I guess fuck the Russian Pilots, crew, and the plane itself.It’s not like those are dwindling resources. 
It could be a third option where the Russians are just inept, and they thought someone else had alerted the Ukrainians to ensure the safety of the flight, and no one did.
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So people are are just believing the Russians about POWs being on board?
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Damn, what a tragic mess.
And let’s get this out of the way –
I didn’t know Boeing sells its planes to Russia.
/s
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The Il-76 is seeing some action as of late:
Via the Wiki:
On 14 June 2014, a Ukrainian Air Force Il-76 was shot down by ground fire from pro-Russian separatists while on approach to landing at Luhansk, resulting in the deaths of 40 soldiers and nine crew members on board.[34][35][36]
On 30 January 2017, an IL-76 firebomber of the Russian EMERCOM agency was deployed to Chile to assist firefighters. The assignment took 39 days.[37]
All Il-76 transport aircraft in service with the RF Aerospace Forces were to receive anti-missile systems, and aircraft reconfiguration started in spring 2019.[38]
On 25 February 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Special Communications Agency and US officials claimed that Russian Il-76s were shot down over Bila Tserkva.[39] As of September 2022, no wreckage of the planes has been found.[40]
On 4 April 2022, photographs of two destroyed Il-76s from the Ukrainian 25th Transport Aviation Brigade were displayed; these cargo planes were destroyed on the ground by Russian forces at Melitopol Airport.[41]
On 30 August 2023, four Il-76s were reportedly destroyed by Ukrainian kamikaze drone strikes at Pskov Airport.[42][43]
On 24 January 2024, an Il-76 crashed near Yablonovo in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast near the Russian-Ukrainian border. In the immediate aftermath, multiple unsubstantiated, conflicting accounts regarding the circumstances of the crash were presented by Ukraine-aligned sources and Russian state media outlets and officials.[44][45]
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Oh, this is most certainly propaganda. But don’t worry, Russia will make sure that the requisite 65 Ukrainian POW corpses are on hand to confirm their deaths anyway.
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Considering he came to power due to the Russian apartment bombings he may have orchestrated, totally.
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I can’t imagine this excuse helps Russia in recruiting pilots for POW flights.
Yeah, it’s an official Russian statement, which means that unless and until it is confirmed from independent, trustworthy sources, you should not believe it. They lie, all the time, about anything and everything.
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