<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">A Russian Ilyushin-76 military transport plane, carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, crashed in the western Belgorod region bordering Ukraine today.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"> According to media reports, Russia's Ministry of Defence said that the plane was heading to the Belgorod region for a prisoner exchange. Another nine people were on the plane, including six crew members. The regional governor in Russia's Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the plane crashed in a field near a residential area and everyone on board died.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In Ukraine, a nationwide air raid alert was briefly in place shortly after news of the crash emerged.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Belgorod, which is located approximately 25 miles north of the border with Ukraine, has suffered dozens of casualties from air strikes and drones since the conflict began.</span></p>