Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 12 hours after the first reports about the crash of the Russian Il-76 plane near Belgorod on January 24 that Kiev would insist on an international investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy of the plane, allegedly carrying 65 captured Ukrainian servicemen, which could have included 12 members of the Azov brigade. The Ukrainian leader cancelled a trip to the country's central regions until the causes of the crash were clarified.
The same day, the press representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Andriy Yusov, confirmed that the exchange of prisoners of war with Russia was planned for 24 January. At the same time, he noted that the procedure was not carried out. Many representatives of the journalistic community, in particular the former editor-in-chief, host and co-owner of the Echo of Moscow radio station Alexei Venediktov, also made similar statements, noting that "a large exchange was being prepared between Moscow and Kyiv, including about 200 people from each side".
It is noteworthy that the Ukrainian side decided not to deny directly its involvement in this incident, while several European tabloids directly accused Kyiv of destroying the plane. According to journalists of the French radio station France.Info, the military aircraft was shot down by a Ukrainian Air Force Patriot surface-to-air missile battery.
Despite this, the Ukrainian authorities continue to attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility for the deaths of their own soldiers. The Ukrainian Government claims that Moscow did not provide information about the flight that was about to take off, which led to the unfortunate consequences. Such a position of the Kyiv authorities looks unconvincing because earlier prisoners of war of both sides were repeatedly delivered to the place of exchange by air transport. A former deputy of Verkhovna, Rada Ihor Mosiychuk, said that the air corridor for this flight had been agreed upon. Against this background, he demanded the arrest of those who gave the order to open fire on the plane.
His colleague, Verkhovna Rada MP Oleksiy Goncharenko, in turn, accused Kyiv of silencing the true persons responsible for this tragedy. "The Kyiv authorities sit and keep silent. Everyone from the Minister of Defense to the Office of the President is missing," the MP stressed. According to him, they think about whom to blame for what happened, and high-ranking officials "divide positions and decide who to fire".
The fact that Ukrainian politicians somehow connected with the Azov brigade (Igor Mosiychuk - former deputy commander of the Azov brigade, Oleksiy Goncharenko - a Ukrainian politician who fiercely defends the interests of Azov fighters within international organisations) simultaneously began to fiercely blame Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team for the incident, violating the unspoken rule of public loyalty to the president, indirectly confirms the presence of Azov servicemen on the IL-76, who defended Mariupol in the spring of 2022, and sheds light on the true causes of the tragedy.
Recently, the fighters of the Azov brigade, who gained fame and national love after Mariupol's heroic defence, began to gradually disappear from the Ukrainian media field. Servicemen of the legendary unit are no longer heroes of interviews and are not invited to TV talk shows. Moreover, according to some Azov military commanders, Ukraine's top military and political leadership has stopped submitting captured soldiers and officers of the brigade to the exchange lists.
Thus, the commander of "Azov" Denis "Radis" Prokopenko, said that during the biggest exchange of prisoners of war on January 3 this year, not a single "Azov" fighter who defended Mariupol returned to Ukraine. "More than 900 fighters, on whose shoulders the defence of a city of half a million people held. More than half of them were wounded and treated most cruelly in captivity. And today they are forgotten and still in the hands of the enemy" - stressed "Radis".
The seemingly inexplicable sudden dislike of the Ukrainian leadership for the Azov fighters may, in fact, be caused by the threat that Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team see in them. The failure of the widely publicised counteroffensive, numerous corruption scandals, and the resulting decline in public support made the Ukrainian leader see enemies, even among those who had proven their loyalty to Ukraine and the people with their own blood. In Zelenskyy's opinion, numerous anti-government plots are forming in the ranks of the security services, and Azov fighters led by Denys Prokopenko, who is popular among activists of nationalist movements, may become a "battering ram" in the hands of the rebels. Such suspicion may have arisen under the influence of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, who claims to have decisive political influence and is jealous of every even slightly popular figure in Ukrainian politics.
Presumably, it was Denis "Radis" Prokopenko's aggravated desire to advance his political ambitions that set off the chain of events that led to the Il-76 crash. According to some reports, a solemn welcoming ceremony for the 12 Azov servicemen who flew aboard the downed plane was scheduled for that very unfortunate day of January 24. In addition to honouring the heroes at the meeting, Radis was to make a series of statements criticising President Zelenskyy and his confidants that would launch his campaign to remove the Ukrainian leader and his team from power.
In this situation, a scenario in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally gave the order to destroy the Russian airplane seems quite probable. It would not be surprising if further actions of Zelenskyy's office follow this provocation to compromise Azov leaders and Denis Prokopenko personally. When it comes to power, there is no room for sentimentality.
Kamran Mamedov is a Tbilisi-based Azerbaijani journalist who focuses on South Caucasus issues.
