Ukraine says Russia did not ask it to ensure air space security where Russian plane crashed

Ukraine military intelligence said on Wednesday Kyiv was not asked to ensure air space security around the Belgorod area in southern Russia as had been the case during previous prisoner of war swaps with Moscow.

In a post on Telegram, it said Russia's accusations that Kyiv on Wednesday shot down a military transport plane in the Belgorod area with 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war onboard could be "a planned action to destabilise the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our state".

The agency also said it had no reliable information on who was onboard the crashed Russian military transport plane.