Russia calls for UN Security Council meeting over plane crash in border with Ukraine

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon at the request of Moscow, which has accused Kyiv of shooting down a Russian military transport plane near the border with Ukraine on Wednesday.

The Russian military said its radar registered the launch of two missiles from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region which borders the Belgorod region. The ministry did not provide evidence for its claim and Ukraine has said it was looking into it but did not immediately provide any information. Instead, it cautioned against sharing “unverified information.”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia wanted to discuss the circumstances of a plane crash and said the full facts were still being verified:

“Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to carry out the next exchange agreed between Moscow and Kyiv. Instead of this exchange taking place, the Ukrainian side attacked this plane with anti-aircraft missiles from the Kharkiv region, which became fatal.”

Since Russia's invasion almost two years ago, Moscow and Kyiv have traded conflicting accusations, and establishing the facts has often been difficult, both because of the constraints of a war zone and because each side tightly controls information.

Lavrov also stated that Russia was not concerned if foreign media didn't believe the details surrounding the crash and added that Russia had nothing to discuss with the United States.

He also called speculation that Russia intended to attack Europe "nonsense."

Videos of the crash posted on social media showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a massive ball of fire erupting where it supposedly hit the ground.

Firefighters, ambulances and police