Russian Il-76 military plane crashes in Belgorod region

"An Il-76 military plane went down in the Belgorod region. This was reported by our source. Preliminary, the incident occurred in the Korocha district," the Telegram channel 112 writes.

At the same time, the governor of the region confirmed that an emergency had occurred in the Korocha district. Gladkov did not write what exactly happened but noted that he was on his way to the scene.

The first videos from the crash site of the Il-76 military transport plane are also published online. It is also reported that there could have been 63 people on board the plane, all of whom allegedly died.

What is known about the Il-76

The Il-76 is a Soviet and Russian heavy military transport aircraft. These aircraft were put into service in 1975. The Il-76 was the first military transport aircraft in the history of the USSR to be powered by a turbojet engine.

These aircraft are used by Russia to transport both personnel and heavy equipment.

It is known from open sources that the aircraft is capable of delivering cargo with a maximum weight of 28-60 tons over a distance of up to 4,200 km at a cruising speed of 770-800 km/h. The crew consists of 6-7 people.

The destruction of the Il-76 during war

On the night of August 30, 2023, an attack was carried out on the airfield in Pskov, where, according to Ukrainian intelligence representative Andrii Yusov, four Il-76 aircraft were destroyed and several others damaged.

According to RBC-Ukraine, the operation was organized by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. The head of the DIU, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the air base near Pskov had been attacked by drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation.

Later, satellite images of the aftermath of the drone attack on the airfield appeared.