Thursday Briefing: Military Plane Crashes in Russia

A large Russian military transport plane crashed yesterday in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, killing everyone onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said that the plane had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be exchanged for Russian service personnel. It accused Ukrainian forces in the nearby Kharkiv region of launching two missiles that struck the aircraft. The plane was also carrying six crew members and three other individuals, the ministry said.

The claims could not be independently verified.

Officials in Kyiv did not comment directly on the accusations, but the country’s military intelligence agency hinted at what could have been a tragic mistake, saying that Russia had not informed it that prisoners would be flown to Belgorod’s airport, as had been the case in previous exchanges. The airport is within range of Ukrainian drones and missiles.

Ukraine’s statement did not deny shooting down the transport plane. The country did say that a prisoner exchange was planned for the day, raising questions about whether it should have assumed that prisoners would be flown into the region.

NATO: Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary pledged to push legislators to vote for Sweden’s admittance into NATO. He offered no timeline, even though he essentially controls Parliament. The Hungarian leader has repeatedly hampered Europe’s efforts to boost security during Russia’s invasion, and vetoed a $52 billion aid package to Ukraine.

According to some analysts, the delays put Orban where he likes to be: at the center of attention as a combative defender of national sovereignty, and being courted rather than pushed around by more powerful nations.

Two tank rounds hit a U.N.