Russian state-run media are reporting that a plane of the country's military crashed on Wednesday in the western Russian region of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border.

The TASS news agency quoted Russia's defense ministry as saying the Ilyushin-76 transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, six crew and three guards when it crashed.

The news agency, citing the ministry, reported the prisoners were being taken to the border region for a prisoner exchange.

The chair of the defense committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, Andrey Kartapolov, told reporters the plane had been shot down by missiles.

Some Ukrainian media outlets quoted military sources as saying Ukrainian forces launched the attack.

Russia's presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was looking into the situation.