Politics

Russia accused Ukraine of shooting down a Russian military transport plane near its border with Ukraine. The circumstances were murky, but Russia said the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were heading for a prisoner exchange with Russian POWs, as well as nine crew. Ukraine said it had not been asked to ensure a safe passage for the aircraft. A few days earlier, Russia blamed Ukrainian forces for a strike on Donetsk, a city under Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine, in which 28 people were killed (a Ukrainian army group in the area said it had not been involved). Two days after that at least 18 people were killed in Russian strikes on other Ukrainian cities.