Ministry says aircraft that went down in border region of Belgorod was carrying prisoners who were to be swapped

A Russian military transport plane has crashed in the border region of Belgorod, according to Russia’s defence ministry.

The ministry said the aircraft was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoWs who were to be swapped. The ministry added that onboard the Ilyushin Il-76 were also six crew and three other people.

The Belgorod regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said all 74 people onboard had died.