Both Sides In Ukraine Deny Shooting Down Plane

Passenger wait at the departure hall at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in Sepang, Malaysia, Friday, July 18, 2014. Malaysia Airlines said it lost contact with Flight MH17 over Ukrainian airspace Thursday. It wa... Passenger wait at the departure hall at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in Sepang, Malaysia, Friday, July 18, 2014. Malaysia Airlines said it lost contact with Flight MH17 over Ukrainian airspace Thursday. It was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) MORE LESS
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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.

As huge plumes of black smoke rose up near a village in eastern Ukraine, the fate of the passengers aboard the plane wasn’t immediately known.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).

The Donetsk region government said a plane crashed Thursday near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of armed pro-Russian separatists. The region where the flight was lost has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.

Both the president of Ukraine and a separatist leader denied shooting anything down Thursday.

Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot it down but gave no explanation for that statement.

Purgin said he was not aware of whether rebel forces owned Buk missile launchers, but even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.

___

AP Airlines Writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Notable Replies

  1. No big surprise here. Economies and banking worldwide are teetering on collapse. All this is to misdirect people’s attention away from that while the oligarchs continue to loot while they can before things blow up.

  2. World: Com’on, you guys - it’s not like Malaysian airplanes shoot THEMSELVES out of the sky.

    Putin: Is normal shoot-Malaysian-plane-out-of-sovereign-airspace-blame-Putin attention whoring by Ukraine tyranny. I vow no interfere except for protect vital Soviet, uh, uh, Russian interests.

    Ukraine: Who’s in charge this week? Is it me? Okay, it’s me, I go. Tell you straight, American news reporter you: yes Malaysian plane DO fall out of sky and go boom or disappear for no reason. Is like proven science on CNN!

  3. Funny because my sister’s sister-in-law has a friend who’s in banking in NJ. The woman told her that they’re sending all their money to Costa Rica and plan on living there, because the world economy, ours included, is going to go in the tank.

    Time for mattress deposits, I guess. :slight_smile:

  4. This is all prelude for the Second Coming of Elvis.

    You read it here first.

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