Russia Said So
"We continue to see evidence of the movement of weapons into Ukraine from Russia since the downing of MH17, which is a cause for concern."
NATO officer
"That Buk I know about. I heard about it. I think they sent it back. I found out about it at exactly the moment that I found out that this tragedy had taken place. They probably sent it back in order to remove proof of its presence."
Alexander Khodakovsky, commander, rebel Vostok battalion
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| FILE Photo. Su-25 fighter plane (Reuters) |
"We [are looking] into the possibility of the missile, which downed the planes, having been launched from the territory of Russia. That's one of the theories. Missiles launched from manpads don't reach such altitudes. The planes have been shot down at the height of 5,200 metres. Only more powerful missile launchers are capable of doing that ..l. [The planes] were downed professionally, the terrorists don't have such experts."
Andrey Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Security Council
So Ukraine confirmed that two of its military aircraft had once again been shot out of the sky by missiles which they claimed were fired from Russia on Wednesday. The two Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jets came down near the village of Dmytrivka, not too distant from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. The ethnic-Russian rebels are on a roll. No doubt delirious with the power of assaulting Ukraine's military resources so devastatingly.
Both pilots are believed to have ejected; one may not have survived, and it was rumoured that the rebels were hunting for the second pilot. Two surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in swift succession were used to demonstrate the resolve and drive to cause as much pain as conceivably possible by the insurgent Russian-speakers to the unspeakable Ukrainian regime in Kyiv.
Although the rebel leaders have steadfastly denied that they had shot down Flight MH17, despite fairly conclusive evidence to the contrary, they're joyfully accepting responsibility for these two later episodes of marksmanship and manipulation of superior, advanced weaponry. Which NATO has confirmed were being moved across the border from Russia to rebel-held territory.
In denying they had anything to do with destroying Flight MH17, rebel leaders insist their surface-to-air missile systems would not have the capacity to reach the airliner's cruise altitude of 10,000 metres. A statement that U.S. intelligence shoots down out of the stratosphere of "nicht shuldig" by noting they had possession of sophisticated SA-11 surface-to-air missiles mounted on Buk mobile rocket-launchers in the very area when the Malaysian passenger jet was shot down.
A contention that one rebel commander confirmed, informing Reuters that the rebels did indeed have at least one Buk launcher at the time of the crash. One Buk, possibly Russian, he stated with confidence, had entered the area under the colours of the Luhansk People's Republic. But he also stated categorically that Kyiv was responsible by provoking the incident.
The Government of Ukraine, after all, knew the location of the Buk and launched air strikes, provoking the attack just as MH17 was in overhead flight. Flight of fancy? Russian media later claimed that Mr. Khodakovsky denied ever having made any such claims. No, he said no such things. Russia said so.
Labels: Aggression, Conflict, Russia, Secession, Ukraine
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 24, 2014
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