UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 701 - JANUARY 23, 2024

A Russian military transport plane of the type Il-76 crashed on January 24 in the Belgorod Oblast, Russia. Geolocated images published by various Russian sources show the crash of the Il-76 in Yablonovo, Belgorod Oblast (about 50 km northeast of the city of Belgorod).

The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that the Il-76 had 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board and was on its way to an agreed exchange of prisoners of war at the Russian-Ukrainian border crossing Kolotylivka. The Russian Ministry of Defense accuses Ukraine of shooting down the plane with two unspecified missiles, resulting in the deaths of the 65 prisoners of war, six Russian crew members, and three Russian military personnel. The high-ranking Russian propagandist and editor-in-chief of the state-controlled television channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, published a list of the names of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who were supposed to be on board the plane. However, several Russian and Ukrainian sources indicate that at least one of the alleged prisoners of war had already been exchanged on January 3 as part of a previous prisoner exchange.

The full Russian Offensive Update 701 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

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