A Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war has crashed in the southern Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The Ilyushin-76 plane was en route from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don when it went down in a wooded area at around 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.
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The cause of the crash is under investigation, but preliminary data suggests a technical malfunction, the statement said.
The ministry said there were nine other people on board the plane, including six crew members and three military personnel. It did not specify their fate, but Ria Novosti news agency reported that there were no survivors.
The Ukrainian prisoners of war were captured during the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting against the Ukrainian government forces since 2014.
The crash comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the West, over the recent buildup of Russian troops near the border and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said he was aware of an "incident" involving a military plane, but gave no further details. He said he had ordered the local authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the rescue and recovery operations.
