The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that missiles fired from across the border brought down the transport plane that it said was taking the POWs back to Ukraine. Local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen. Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed a Russian military transport plane that day, and Russia's claim that the crash killed Ukrainian POWs could not be independently verified. An International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson in Ukraine urged Russia on Friday night to return the bodies of any POWs who might have died in the plane crash. While Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange the bodies of dead soldiers, each trade has required considerable preparation, Vlasenko said.

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Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, Moscow, Kyrylo, Budanov, Mykola Oleshchuk, Oleksandr Vlasenko, Vlasenko, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: Russian, Wednesday, Ukraine's, Staff, Kyiv, Russian Defense Ministry, Local, Social, International Committee, Red Cross, U.S, Free, Radio Liberty, Red Cross Media Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian, Russia's Belgorod, Belgorod, Russian, Kyiv, Moscow, Free Europe, thoughtlessness, St . Petersburg