BILD: Russian IL-76 Near Belgorod Crashed After Explosion In The Sky

A German expert has analysed the video of the plane crash in detail against the background of different versions.

The Russian IL-76 crashed in the Belgorod region after an explosion in the air.

This is what Julian Repke, an expert in the analysis of open data for the BILD newspaper, writes about the video of the crash. The journalist himself flies small planes as an amateur pilot.

"A Russian air force IL-76 crashed and exploded in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, catching fire after the explosion in the air and starting to fall apart. Russian and Ukrainian sources are now reporting that the IL-76 was shot down. There is no other explanation for why locals heard "something loud" in the sky, took out their mobile phones and were able to film the crash. If I see it right, the fuselage collapses before the crash and the cockpit falls away from the rest of the aircraft. For that to happen, there must have been a pretty big explosion in the air," Repke writes.

Now Ukrainian and Russian anonymous Telegram channels, bloggers and war correspondents are publishing conflicting information about whether the plane was shot down and whether there really were Ukrainian POWs on board.

The Russian defence ministry said a commission had been sent to the site to investigate the causes of the crash.