OREANDA-NEWS  Moscow has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the crash of the Russian military transport aircraft IL-76 in the Belgorod region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We have already requested, it was about an hour and a half ago, an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council at 15:00 New York time (23:00 Moscow time)," Lavrov said at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

According to the minister, the Russian side "very much expects that the French presidency will faithfully fulfill its duties and schedule such a meeting as soon as possible."

Lavrov drew attention to the fact that "immediately after the plane crashed after firing from anti-aircraft guns, the Ukrainian side declared another victory for the valiant armed forces of Ukraine."

"But as soon as it became known that it was a flight carrying prisoners of war for exchange, and officials of the Ukrainian military department could not help but know that such an exchange was being prepared, immediately Ukrainian propaganda began to sweep under the carpet bravura messages about their victories, trying to come up with some other explanations," he said The Minister.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the IL-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region was shot down by the Ukrainian military.

"The aircraft was destroyed by the armed forces of Ukraine from the area of the village of Liptsy, Kharkiv region, using an anti-aircraft missile system," the ministry said on Wednesday.

"The launch of two Ukrainian missiles was observed by radar means of the Russian Aerospace Forces," the Russian Defense Ministry noted.

They said that the aircraft of the Russian military transport aviation was flying along the Chkalovsky - Belgorod airfield route to transport Ukrainian servicemen for exchange. The 65 Ukrainian soldiers on board, six crew members and three Russian military escorts were killed.