Russian Investigators Dealing With Return of Bodies of Ukrainian PoWs - Kremlin

TULA (Sputnik) - The Russian investigative authorities are currently dealing with the issue of return of the bodies of Ukrainian PoWs who were killed in the downing of the Il-76 military aircraft in the Belgorod Region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"The issue is now entirely in the hands of investigative authorities. An investigation is underway. And while an investigation is underway, all of the regimes are determined by the investigation," Peskov told reporters.

Not a single international organization responded to the call of Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch an investigation into the matter, Peskov added.

On January 24, an Il-76 transport aircraft with 65 Ukrainian PoWs being transported for exchange crashed in Russia's Belgorod Region, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.All the PoWs, along with six crew members and three accompanying persons on board died. Russian military accused the Ukrainian forces of downing the plane.

President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that the Russian Investigative Committee had determined that Ukraine used a US-made Patriot missile system to bring down the Ilyushin Il-76 plane with the Ukrainian PoWs.