Putin doubles down on claims that Russian jet was downed by US missiles

Vladimir Putin appears to be doubling down on claims that the Russian IL-76 military plane was brought down by Western weapons.

The Russian president said on Wednesday that Ukraine used a US Patriot missile defence system to shoot down the transport plane over the border city Belgorod.

‘The expert analysis has already established that. We insist that an international investigation be carried out. No international organisations are willing to do this,’ he said.

Putin said that Ukraine had fired two missiles at the plane, resulting in a fireball in the sky.

Footage broadcast on Russian TV shows investigators at the scene of the disaster that took place last week.

Several charred fragments with English writing on them – said to be the remains of the US missile – were paraded on screen.

A fragment of a missile that was used to shoot down the Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane (Picture: Reuters)

The piece was found at the crash site near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region (Picture: Reuters)

Ukraine and Russia traded the blame over the explosion and the crash, which was captured on a video.

But Putin took it a step further, stressing that Ukraine used a US weapon to attack the plane.

The Kremlin also alleged that the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including the 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) heading for a swap.

The culprit for the downing, the Russian Defence Ministry said, was Ukraine itself.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it shot down the aircraft, and has demanded proof of who was on board.

But a Ukrainian military spy official said on Tuesday that Russia has been showing no willingness to return the bodies.

Spokesperson Andriy Yusov was quoted as saying by Suspilne broadcaster: ‘It’s a statement from Russia that our prisoners were there, and so far we can analyse only their words.

‘Now there is no readiness to transfer the bodies from the other side.’

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