Those are the main, undisputed facts about a crash which triggered headlines around the world on Wednesday.
The incident has caused significant controversy because Moscow has claimed that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board – and has accused Kyiv of shooting the plane down.
But Russia is yet to present any evidence of this. Here’s what you need to know.
What do we know for certain?
Widely circulated videos from social media of the crash have been verified by news agencies like AP. They show a warplane hitting the ground on Wednesday, triggering an explosion near the Russian village of Yablanovo.
The incident reportedly happened around 11am, local time.
What does Russia say about it?
Moscow said a prisoner of war swap with Ukraine was meant to take place at a border checkpoint 60 miles to the west of Belgorod, on January 24.
The Il-76 plane had 74 passengers in total, according to Moscow: 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six Russian crew members and three escorts.
According to claims from Russia state media TASS, everyone on board died after “the Ukrainian armed forces shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod region”.
The Russian defence ministry said it was a “terrorist act” and said Kyiv was aware that prisoners were being transported for the exchange.
Russia claimed Ukraine’s air base had fired two anti-aircraft missiles from the Lyptsi area south of the Ukrainian border.
Moscow also deflected any criticism after the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested an international inquiry should be launched into the incident.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he thought an inquiry should be made into the “criminal actions of the Kyiv regime”.
However, Russia has not presented any evidence of its claims.
How has Ukraine responded?
At first, Ukraine did not mention any prisoners of war, and said the Russian plane was carrying missiles for Russia’s S-300 air defence system.
Moscow has used these missiles to target Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv from Belgorod in recent days.
Kyiv later said that, unlike with previous exchanges, it had not been advised to ensure the airspace was safe for travel.
It also said that it has no clear information about who was on the plane.
Kyiv added that it was Moscow’s responsibility “to ensure the safety of our defenders under the agreements that had been reached”.
Ukraine also suggested the downing of the plane may have been part of some “planned and deliberate actions by Russia”.
It added that the lack of communication over keeping the airspace clear “can point to Russia’s deliberate actions aimed at putting the lives and safety of the prisoners of war under threat”.
This has been perceived as a subtle acknowledgment that Ukraine may have been responsible for shooting it down, but Kyiv has not actually said that so far.
In an address on Wednesday night, Zelenskyy claimed Russia was “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners”, and called for an international inquiry into the incident.
Ukrainian air force Mykola Oleshchuk also warned on Wednesday that Russia was trying to discredit Ukraine – and that Kyiv had the right to destroy Russia’s means of aerial attacks.
Ukrainian government body said Russia was “actively carrying out special information operations against Ukraine which are aimed at destabilising Ukrainian society”.
Ahead of the planned exchange, Ukraine said it had carried out its part of the deal, and captured Russian military servicemen were “delivered to the agreed location in time to be exchange and they were safe there”.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, said: “Do not be fooled by provocations. More detailed information will be provided later.”
Why does the location matter?
Belgorod is 25 miles north of the border with Ukraine, and has seen significant disturbance there recently.
Russia accidentally dropped a bomb on a village in the region on January 2, which it described as an “emergency release of aviation munitions”.
A statement from the Russian government said that no one was killed or injured, but at least six privately owned buildings were impacted.
And at the end of December, 25 people were killed and 100 injured after a Ukrainian air strike there on Belgorod.
However, Ukraine claimed that only military infrastructure had been hit in its strike and blamed Russian air defences for fragments falling on the city.
What happens next?
Hopefully more details will emerge in the coming days.
But it’s not clear what may happen with prisoners of war swaps.
More than 8,000 Ukrainian civilian and military are still being held by Russia, according to Ukraine’s Coordination HQ for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
According to Russian state news agency, TASS, Peskov also said “nothing can be said” about future exchanges right now.
He added: “No one call tell how this will affect the prospect of the continuation of this process.”
He also added that the process “should be held in absolute silence.”