On 24 January, Ukrainian troops struck a firing range near Ilovaisk in the "Donetsk People's Republic", where Russian UAV pilots were deployed.
This was reported by Radio Liberty with reference to Russian military channels on telegram.
As a result of the strike, as stated by journalists, there are dead.
There is no official confirmation of these reports, but Russian pro-war bloggers and local journalists are also indirectly confirming the strike.
The sounds of explosions in Ilovaysk, far from the front line, were reported by local blogs on Wednesday.
Telegram channels write that a missile strike by HIMARS MLRS missiles at the firing range killed drone operators of the "Doomsday" project of the so-called Sudoplatov battalion, created in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaphorizhye region.
The reason is alleged to be that the commander allegedly sent advance information to the pilots about the time and place of drone training.
The reports of the strike, and specifically of the drone operators, were indirectly confirmed by the political analyst Alexei Chadaev, who among other things oversees projects related to the use of drones by the Russian military.
"Let's not underestimate the enemy and let's not blame everything on the operators. Every pilot is a valuable target and many pilots and trainers in one place is a very valuable target," Chadaev writes.
The Ukrainian side has not officially commented on the alleged strike.
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Crash of a Russian transport: Ukraine and Russia continue to blame each other
Kiev and Moscow continue to blame each other for the crash of a Russian air force transport aircraft near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the mystery surrounding which remains unsolved.
The two sides each stuck to their own version, exchanging accusations, during yesterday's extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council, at Moscow's request, on the day after the crash of the aircraft which, according to the Russian authorities, was carrying 65 prisoners of war with a view to their exchange.
"All the information we have (...) shows that we are dealing with a premeditated and well-planned crime," said Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dimitry Palyansky.
The Russian diplomat accused the Ukrainians of intending to "sabotage the process" of prisoner exchange "in the most barbaric way" and of being willing to "sacrifice citizens of their own country" to serve "geopolitical interests of the West."
Ukrainian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Christina Hayovishin denied her counterpart's accusations, countering that if the presence of POWs on the transport is confirmed, Moscow will have to answer for this "new violation of international humanitarian law".
"Human shields" in the ethers?
It would be the "first case of using human shields in the ethers to cloak missile transport", she added.
Last Thursday evening, the Russian Investigative Committee, tasked with conducting a "terrorism" investigation, released a nearly 40-second video taken in a forested area in a snowy field.
It shows felled trees and debris scattered over a long distance; it is impossible to recognise the shape of the Il-76, a huge aircraft some 50 metres long.
On the ground, on the snow, the wreckage is impossible to identify at a glance. One or two bodies can be seen - enriched - and bloodstains. The Agence France-Presse notes that it has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the material.
The day before yesterday, Wednesday, an Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane crashed near the village of Yablanava, 45 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border, in the Belgorod region, killing all 74 people on board, according to Russian authorities.
According to them, 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be exchanged had boarded the transport, together with a crew of six and three Russian military personnel, who were apparently guarding the prisoners.
Russian investigators reiterated Moscow's version, namely that the transport "was attacked by an anti-aircraft missile" launched "from Ukrainian territory".
However, Russia has not released any evidence of the identities of the occupants.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmitry Lubinets has called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to go to "inspect the site" of the crash.
The ICRC, rejecting any "scenario", said it "does not know what happened".
Kiev has not confirmed that it shot down the transport plane, but it says it intends to continue hitting military targets on Russian territory.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service insisted it did not have "reliable and complete information" about the aircraft's passengers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded an international investigation.
Russia 'responsible'
The Ukrainian human rights commissioner recalled that in any case Russia was "responsible for the safety" of the prisoners under the Geneva Convention.
Kiev admitted that an exchange of prisoners of war was planned, but stressed that it had not been "informed" that measures were needed to ensure the safety of air transport in the area where the downing took place.
Yesterday, Thursday, the Ukrainian intelligence service announced that it had begun an investigation into the crash, but it seems difficult to carry out, as the plane is in Russian territory.
Air crash investigators have recovered the two black boxes, Russia's state-run RIA news agency reported, citing a source in the emergency response services.
Indicative of the uncertainty and the many questions is that international reactions have been rather sparse.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine limited himself to saying he was "not in a position to say whether the Russian allegations are true or not", adding "Russia is used to lying to us on these issues".
MH17, Prigozhin
The region of Belgorod, where the crash occurred, is often targeted by Ukrainian strikes in retaliation for Russian attacks.
Kiev has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the destruction of Russian aircraft that until recently appeared, at least in theory, to be out of range of its weapon systems.
Last week, Ukraine announced that it had shot down two Russian aircraft, which Moscow neither confirmed nor denied.
Russia has been involved in several air disasters, the circumstances of which have not been clarified, with Moscow denying any responsibility.
The most painful such case was that of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Refuting evidence suggesting that the aircraft was shot down by pro-Russian separatists, Moscow blames Kiev for that tragedy, which killed 298 people.
And, more recently, the crash of the aircraft carrying the head of the private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and its top executives, in August 2023, during a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a few weeks after the businessman and his mercenaries' aborted armed stand against the Russian military leadership.
