In the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, today, January 24, at around 10:15 a.m. (around 11:15 a.m. local time), an Il-76 military transport plane crashed. According to the available video from the scene of the events, he was hit. The event took place near the village of Yablonovo.
Almost immediately after the information appeared, the Russian Federation recognized the loss of the plane, despite the usual practice of simply keeping silent and not commenting on these events. Moreover, the so-called Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation immediately announced that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board the Il-76, who were being transported to Belgorod for exchange.
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The fall of IL-76
At the same time, the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War officially reported that the enemy is actively carrying out special information operations with the aim of destabilizing Ukrainian society. Information is currently being collected.
But the answer to this question may well lie in the determined route of the plane. Because if he was taking off, then there could not be any prisoners on him. Defense Express can show the following:
The plane, which was already falling, was caught on camera from Yablonovo itself. In the video, it moves from southwest to northeast.
The flight of the aircraft is generally adjacent to the designated air corridor area used by aircraft both arriving and departing from the airport in Belgorod. Below is a map of the area with designated aircraft routes for ICAO civil aviation. This does not mean that the military plane had to fly exactly after them, but with a high degree of probability, they were used for landing or taking off from the Belgorod civilian airport. Additionally, the village of Yablonovo was also roughly marked.
If the plane did not change its route by almost exactly 180 degrees after being shot down, this directly indicates that it was gaining altitude after taking off from Belgorod and was unlikely to be transporting prisoners.
These are the routes of approach to the airfield, while the standard approach schemes involve flying in completely different areas and much closer to the airfield. Examples of “near” and “far” circles for the airport in Belgorod:
Also, the fact that the IL-76 was taking off is indicated by the fact that after its fall there was a powerful explosion, which is more characteristic of the case when the plane was fully fueled or was carrying an explosive cargo. At the same time, the plane usually does not land with full tanks.
The fact that the plane took off from Belgorod is also indicated by unofficial messages from Russian local Telegram channels.
To this should be added the message from the governor of the Belgorod region, which was made public at 10:12, regarding the “missile danger”. This may point to another possible detail of the downing of the Il-76.
At the same time, in any case, the main question remains: was the plane making a landing and after being hit it turned 180 degrees, or did it take off from Belgorod and fell in the direction of its flight route.
Updated: later, the General Staff of the Armed Forces reported that the RF IL-76 was transporting missiles to Belgorod, but did not indicate whether it took off and landed. But in the case of such a download, it is no longer of significant importance. Also, there are no signs on the footage from the plane’s crash site that it could have transported more than fifty prisoners, as is said in the Russian Federation.
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