Il-76 incident: Putin agrees only to investigate 'Kyiv's Crime', HUR calls it a brash statement
Peskov had claimed that any international investigation into the Il-76 aircraft incident should focus on "Kyiv's crime".
Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR), labeled Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's statement as "brash". Speaking on a telethon, Yusov reminded that the aircraft in question was a Russian military plane, which should not have been involved in a prisoner exchange operation.
Peskov responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's statement, insisting on an international investigation of the incident, to the Russian propagandists.
"If he means an international investigation into the criminal actions of the Kyiv regime – it is definitely needed," said Peskov.
Yusov stated that Russia continually cynically manipulates the issue of prisoners of war, using it as a means to pressure Ukraine and destabilize the situation in the country.
"This time we again observe such a situation. To ensure what happened, considering who we are dealing with, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the necessity of conducting an international investigation, involving international expert investigators," Yusov said.
He emphasized that Ukraine is ready to provide all available information and assist in this investigation, "which, unfortunately, Russia has not yet confirmed."
"We saw this brash statement by Peskov that an international commission would only investigate the crimes of Ukraine. Well, excuse me, we are talking about the crash of a Russian military aircraft, which by definition should not have been transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war. It is a military aircraft, armed with a 23 mm cannon, carrying missiles and ammunition, including for strategic aviation, for S-300 and S-400 complexes, enemy personnel," Yusov said.
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