An IL-76 transport plane of the Russian air forces with 65 Ukrainian prisoners who were being transported for exchange, the crew, and accompanying persons crashed in Russia's Belgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, Sputnik reports.

"At about 11:00 Moscow time [08:00 GMT], an IL-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod region during a scheduled flight. There were 65 captured servicemen of the Ukraine armed forces on board, transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members of the aircraft, and three accompanying persons. A Russian air forces commission flew to the crash site to establish the causes of the disaster," the ministry said.

The speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin instructed to prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the Bundestag in connection with the crash of the IL-76 in the Belgorod region.

The Russian IL-76 transport plane is a military aircraft designed to transport large and heavy cargo over long distances. Equipped with four turbofan engines and a spacious cargo hold, it can carry up more than 40 tons of cargo to distances between 3,600 and 4,200 km, and has a cruising speed of 770-800 km per hour, making it one of the largest transport aircraft in service.

The IL-76 is used by the Russian Aerospace Forces for a variety of purposes, including military transport, air-to-air refueling, and search and rescue.