Kiev's British advisers are responsible for the deaths of Ukrainian POWs and crew members aboard the IL-76 shot down by Ukraine. A source familiar with the matter gave this information to Sputnik.
"The attack on the Il-76 was carried out under pressure from British advisers without coordination with the air defense headquarters in Kiev and without additional double-checking of information on aircraft movements over the Belgorod region," the source said.
Six Russian crew members, three Russian servicemen and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed when an Il-76 was hit by a missile over the Belgorod region on January 24. The plane was en route to a planned prisoner exchange that was later cancelled.
The Russian Investigative Committee had said that Ukrainian armed forces had used a MIM-104A guided missile fired from the Patriot system to shoot down the plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attack as a crime by the Kiev regime against its own citizens. According to Putin, Ukraine knew that there were Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the plane, but they attacked it anyway.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the plane crash raised serious questions about the possibility of any agreement with Kiev.