Afaik that passenger manifest was revealed to be fake. Telegram going to Telegram, so YMMV.
Current theory is that Russians told Ukrainian general staff that there was going to be a prisoner exchange that would be delivered by IL-76, but miscommunication led to nobody on the ground getting the news. I don’t believe Ukrainian AD was acting out of malice.
We know a prisoner exchange was supposed to happen at the border near Belgorod, we know IL-76s were used to transport POWs in the past, and we also know Ukraine shot down the IL-76. We also know Russia doesn’t usually operate IL-76 so close to the Ukrainian AD umbrella, so…
Afaik that passenger manifest was revealed to be fake. Telegram going to Telegram, so YMMV.
Current theory is that Russians told Ukrainian general staff that there was going to be a prisoner exchange that would be delivered by IL-76, but miscommunication led to nobody on the ground getting the news. I don’t believe Ukrainian AD was acting out of malice.
We know a prisoner exchange was supposed to happen at the border near Belgorod, we know IL-76s were used to transport POWs in the past, and we also know Ukraine shot down the IL-76. We also know Russia doesn’t usually operate IL-76 so close to the Ukrainian AD umbrella, so…