The 12th Military Transport Aviation Division (Tver, Migalovo airfield) unites Il-76 regiments, including the Orenburg-based 117th, whose aircraft was shot down on January 24, 2024, in Belgorod Oblast – the entire six-person crew died, and the circumstances (versions about prisoners on board and being hit by a Patriot missile) remain disputed and unconfirmed independently.
Панюков Владимир Иванович — Генерал-майор, командир 12-й военно-транспортной авиационной дивизии
The 12th Guards Mginsk Red Banner Military Transport Aviation Division (headquarters – Migalovo airfield, Tver) unites several military transport aviation regiments, including the 117th Regiment (Orenburg, military unit 45097) operating Il-76MD aircraft. It was an aircraft of this regiment – an Il-76MD (tail number RA-86868) – that was destroyed on January 24, 2024, in Belgorod Oblast by two surface-to-air missiles from an air defense system, which, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, was located in Kharkiv Oblast; the Russian side claimed that captured Ukrainian servicemen were on board. Ukraine did not take direct responsibility, while representatives from the US and France anonymously spoke of the version that it was hit by a Ukrainian Armed Forces Patriot missile; no independent investigation of the incident was conducted. The crew of the deceased aircraft – 117th Regiment flight commander Stanislav Bezzubkin (36 years old), co-pilot Vladislav Chmirev (24 years old), navigator Aleksey Vysokhin, flight engineer Andrey Piluev, technician Sergey Zhitenev, and radio operator Igor Sablinsky – has been identified and recognized by Russian media. No direct data on the participation of other regiments of the division (Pskov, Taganrog, Tver) in specific episodes of the war has been found in open sources.
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