Breaking news: Malaysian Airliner shot down over Ukraine

[telemann.livejournal.com]

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people aboard crashed on Thursday in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, an area roiled by fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials said the plane might have been shot down, possibly by a Russian-made antiaircraft system. Eastern Ukraine has been roiled for months by a violent pro-Russian separatist uprising in which a number of military aircraft have been downed. But this would be the first commercial airline disaster to result from the hostilities. Despite the turmoil in eastern Ukraine, the commercial airspace over that part of the country is a heavily trafficked route and has remained open.



New York Times with more information, video and analysis.


The incident touched off immediate finger-pointing between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. Eastern Ukraine separatist leader Alexander Borodai told Reuters that Ukrainian military forces shot the jet down, but Kiev denied involvement and labeled the incident a "terrorist act." The President of Ukraine on behalf of the State expresses its deepest and most sincere condolences to the families and relatives of those killed in this terrible tragedy," said a statement released by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's office. "Every possible search and rescue effort is being made." Separatist groups reportedly blocked Ukrainian officials from the scene, and later said the "black box," or flight data recorder, had been sent to Moscow. KT McFarland, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan, and a Fox News national security analyst said the attack was most likely the work of Russian separatists, not the Russian or Ukrainian armies.

Source.

Comments

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Malaysian Airlines flight #MH17 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MH17?src=hash) reported to have been shot down by BUK-M1 [aka SA-11] surface-to-air missile system pic.twitter.com/UWwFifWhZr (http://t.co/UWwFifWhZr)

— NATOSource (@NATOSource) July 17, 2014 (https://twitter.com/NATOSource/statuses/489804662816903168)

Needless to add, advanced mobile air defense systems like the Buk/SA-11 are not in the inventory of most "rebel groups" in the world.

— John Schindler (@20committee) July 17, 2014 (https://twitter.com/20committee/statuses/489798248581046272)

[fostral2.livejournal.com]

"sad but true..."

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Edit: was meant as a mainline comment, not a reply, sorry.

A view from Russia for y'all.
1. Lots of people and news channels here are talking about how the latest US sanctions are going to affect our economy (including contracts with parties in third countries where US dollars are used).
2. Donetsk self-defense forces have on 29th June announced that they have captured some Buk's from Ukranian military. So whoever shot the plane down (if it was shot down) the origins of the system it was shot down with is unclear. Anyhow Buk (which is Russian for "beech" - a kind of tree, there is a long-standing tradition of naming anti-aircraft rocket systems for trees) is not the only kind of AA system which could have reached 10100 meters).

Anyways, when US had problems with its own wayward provinces, our country was on the side of your federal government. Tells something about answering good with ingratitude.

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Whatever else - back to the plane issue.
Does anyone here read Spanish? One of our news agencies claims that this twitter https://twitter.com/spainbuca is a Spanish air control employee who says that just before the crash he observed to Ukranian interceptors near the Malaysian plane.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

[cypukambl.livejournal.com]

By the way. Ukraine has an experience in shooting down civilian airplanes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812)

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Early morning in Moscow today - people are bringing flowers to embassies of Netherlands and Malaysia:

D'oh. videos don't want to embed;
See here http://tvzvezda.ru/news/vstrane_i_mire/content/201407180932-59ko.htm#
and here http://www.m24.ru/videos/56608?attempt=1

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Fuck, that's awful. I just found out today.

"Working to see if Americans are on board"

Yeah. Check the color of our blood, its red white and blue.

[mudryikot.livejournal.com]

Russian General Staff has issued a comprehensive briefing showing positions of Ukranian AA and aerial military assets at the time of crash. Apparently the Malaysian plane was within range of Ukranian SAMs and Ukranian radar activity peaked at the date of the crash. Also, presence of Ukranian SU-25 interceptor near the airliner just before the accident. Malaysian airliner (apparently on orders of Ukranian air traffic control authorities) has strayed from its pre-planned and pre-logged course. Finally, it was announced that a US recon satellite was overflying that territory exactly at the time of the crash. So far, US authorities did not release any data that may shed the light on the accident.