A Russian military transport plane carrying over 70 people has crashed at the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said on Wednesday.
There were nine Russian crew members and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft, local media reported.
The prisoners were apparently being flown for an exchange with Ukraine, but there was no information confirming that.
In Kiev, the news portal Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) had initially reported that the plane was shot down, but the story was later taken down.