Russian Il-76 Transport Plane Crashes in Belgorod: Video

A Russian Il-76 military jet that crashed near Ukraine's border was carrying 65 captured Ukrainians, Russian authorities claimed.

"At about 11.00 Moscow time, an Il-76 plane crashed during a scheduled flight in the Belgorod region. On board there were 65 captured military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, ... six members of the plane's crew and three accompanying persons," Russia's Defense Ministry was quoted as saying by the country's state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

The defense ministry didn't elaborate on whether there were any casualties.

Earlier, multiple Telegram news channels, including independent Russian news outlet Sirena, said on Wednesday that an Ilyushin Il-76 Soviet-era transport aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region. It shared a video which showed a huge fireball and black plumes of smoke rising into the sky from a distance.

Russian Telegram channel 112 reported, citing an unnamed source, that there were 63 people on board the Il-76, and that all of them had been killed in the crash.

RIA Novosti said a commission of the Russian Space Forces flew to the scene to investigate the cause of the crash. Newsweek couldn't independently verify who was on board the aircraft, and has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod Oblast, said in a post on Telegram that there had been an "incident" in the region's Korochansky district, but didn't specify whether the incident was the reported Il-76 plane crash.

"An investigative team and Emergency Situations Ministry employees are currently working on the scene," said Gladkov, adding that he had changed his work schedule to go to the affected area, promising he would provide more details later.

Telegram channel Military Informant said that Gladkov and the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations went to the Korochansky district, "where, presumably, the plane crashed."

Responding to news of the crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Kremlin will now "deal with it."

An hour before reports of the crash emerged, local media reported that a missile alert was launched in Belgorod region, and residents were urged to take shelter in safe places away from windows. Gladkov announced that the alert had been canceled about 30 minutes later.

Numerous crashes involving military aircraft have been reported in Russia in throughout Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In June 2022, another Ilyushin Il-76 military plane crashed near Ryazan, in western Russia. "The crew detected an engine malfunction and decided to perform an off-runway landing" before crashing, the Russian defense ministry said of that crash.

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Update 1/24/24, 5:03 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.