Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that an Il-76 transport plane of the Russian air forces with 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were being transported for exchange, six crew members and three accompanying persons crashed in Belgorod region.
"Kiev was well aware of the planned exchange [of prisoners of war]. They knew how and by what route the prisoners of war would be transferred. The attack on the plane was a deliberate and conscious action. The terrorist attack clearly demonstrates the inability of the Kiev regime to negotiate," the ministry said in a statement, adding that it "condemns" the attack.
The ministry also called on international organizations to condemn Ukraine’s actions as "their silence will mean support for [Kiev’s] barbarism".
Later in the day, Ukrainian news portal Strana.ua reported that the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry had confirmed that a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kiev was to take place on Wednesday.
The procedure is currently suspended with no official explanation given, the news portal said, citing defense intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov. The Ukrainian intelligence services are reportedly checking the information about the prisoners being on board of the crashed plane.