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A recent incident on Russian borders could indicate a dangerous escalation in the conflict. A Russian transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) was shot down, having no survivors. The case raises a series of questions about what the intention of Kiev and its allies behind such an attack would be.

The incident occurred in the Russian region of Belgorod – which is an undisputed territory of the Russian Federation, outside the special military operation zone. According to sources of the Moscow’s Ministry of Defense, an Il-76 aircraft was hit by an American Patriot missile. There were 65 Ukrainian POWs, six crew members and three other people accompanying the prisoners on board. Due to the efficient actions of the crew, the plane was diverted from the inhabited areas of Belgorod, having only the passengers as victims. The Russian military established a special committee to investigate the case. It is hoped that the reasons for the attack and the real culprits will soon be clarified.

First of all, it must be emphasized that POWs were being transferred to the conflict zone in order to be returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange process. In this sense, one of the major suspicions raised by analysts is that Kiev intends to boycott the exchange negotiations, with the attack being a way of provoking Russia, possibly accusing Moscow of false flag, to justify the end of the talks.

On the one hand, it is also important to remember that the projectile used in the attack was an American Patriot missile. This type of equipment is usually handled with the help American instructors and military personnel in Ukraine – and Russian military sources believe this is what happened in the recent case.

It is possible that NATO operators are unqualified and inexperienced to the point that they are unable to correctly identify their targets, making serious mistakes such as shooting down a plane with Ukrainian passengers. Considering that the myth of NATO’s “absolute military superiority” has already been demolished throughout the special military operation, it does not seem surprising that Western instructions are incompetent to such an extent.

However, there is an even more plausible – and worrying – hypothesis, which is a deliberate action on the part of the US to escalate the conflict. Since the shooting occurred within the undisputed territory of Russia, it is possible that from now on NATO’s directive to its instructors and proxies in Ukraine will be to shoot down Russian planes in the demilitarized territory of the Federation, violating the limits of the conflict zone.

If this last hypothesis is proven true, it is possible that there will be an unprecedented escalation of violence in the conflict, as Moscow will not tolerate the lives of its civilians being threatened by NATO-backed Ukrainian terrorism. If the shooting down of Russian planes in the pacified territory is indeed a current “tactic” of pro-Kiev forces, the Russian authorities will certainly respond with various escalatory measures, with the possibility of even expanding the martial law zone or increasing combat mobilization.

Furthermore, retaliatory operations tend to be terrible for the weakened Ukrainian side. To protect its airspace, Moscow could launch an exceptional wave of heavy artillery and aviation bombing raids against strategic Ukrainian targets, destroying key enemy military facilities and decision-making centers. It is necessary to remember that in such a situation many NATO war structures would be neutralized, since they are located precisely in strategic centers far from the front lines.

Soon, Russian authorities will make new statements on the case. The work of the special investigation committee will expose the necessary details to conclude what really happened and what the attack will mean for the future of the conflict. However, some things can already be taken as certain, such as NATO’s co-responsibility for the crime and the negative impact of the incident on the prisoner exchange process.

Furthermore, regardless of which hypothesis is true, the prolongation of the conflict seems an inevitable reality. By allowing criminal attacks like this to happen, the US is making it clear that it is not willing to change its strategy of “fighting to the last Ukrainian” – on the contrary, this appears to be the West’s main priority in this war, despite the impossibility of preventing the final outcome from being a Russian victory.

Also, it is notorious how the neo-Nazi regime does not value the lives of its own citizens, having killed prisoners in a certainly deliberate manner. This is not surprising to those who know the misanthropic ideology behind the Kiev regime, but it is an important fact to debunk Western propaganda about Ukraine as a “democracy”. In practice, the Kiev Junta does not respect the lives of its own nationals and is willing to annihilate all Ukrainians just to meet NATO’s war plans.

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