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Ukraine Accuses Russia of Providing Missiles That Felled Malaysia Jet Ukraine Says It Can Prove Russia Supplied Arms System That Felled Jet
(35 minutes later)
KIEV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian government said on Saturday that it had proof that Russia had provided the surface-to-air missile system that shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard. KIEV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian government said on Saturday, that it had proof that Russia had provided the surface-to-air missile system that shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard.
It accused Russia and separatist rebels in the east of trying to cover up what it claled their role in the disaster by blocking recovery workers’ access to the crash site, removing evidence, and secreting transferring the missile launchers back to Russia just hours after the crash. Ukraine accused Russia and separatist rebels in the east of trying to cover-up their role by blocking recovery workers from the crash site, removing evidence and driving the missile launchers back to Russia just hours after the crash. At a news conference in Kiev, Vitaly Nayda, the head of counterintelligence for the Ukrainian State Security Service, displayed photographs that he said showed three of the Buk-M1 missile systems on the road to the Russian border. Two of the devices, which are missile launchers mounted on an armored vehicle, crossed the border into Russia at about 2 a.m. Friday, or less than 10 hours after the jet, Flight 17, was blown apart in midair, he said. The third weapon crossed at about 4 a.m.
At a news conference in Kiev, the capital, Vitaly Nayda, the head of counterintelligence of the Ukrainian State Security Service, displayed photographs that he said showed three BUK-M1 missile systems on the road to the Russian border. Two of the devices, missile launchers mounted on a self-propelled armored vehicle, crossed the border into Russia about 2 a.m. Friday, less than 10 hours after the jet, Flight 17, was blown apart in midair, he said. The third weapon crossed about 4 a.m. Mr. Nayda said that the missile had been fired from the town of Snizhne, located in rebel-controlled territory, echoing American intelligence showing the missile coming from eastern Ukraine. Both the Ukrainians and the Americans said they believed that the separatist rebels would have needed help from Russia in order to fire the antiaircraft missiles.
Mr. Nayda said that Ukrainian officials were certain that the missile had been fired from the town of Snizhne, in rebel-controlled territory. President Obama, citing United States intelligence, has also said that the missile was fired from rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. Both the Ukrainians and the Americans have said they believe that the separatist rebels would have needed help from Russia to fire the antiaircraft missiles. Tensions flared on several fronts with reports on Saturday of heavy fighting between rebels and government forces in the eastern city of Luhansk, a reminder that the crash site is in an active combat zone. Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced that it was imposing economic sanctions on 12 Americans in retaliation for a new round of economic sanctions announced last week against Russian companies.
Tensions continued to flare on several fronts Saturday, with reports on Saturday of heavy fighting between rebels and government forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhanks, a reminder that the crash site is in what remains an active combat zone. The allegations of a cover-up, both to hide the weaponry in the hours immediately after the missile strike and to stop investigators from collecting evidence, threatened to further inflame an already highly-charged international incident. The Kremlin has forcefully denied any role in the downing of the plane and has said that the Ukrainian military’s antiaircraft weapons may have been responsible. Ukrainian officials accused Russia directly, and called for an international investigation.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, announced that it was imposing economic sanctions on 12 Americans in retaliation for a new round of economic sanctions announced last week against Russian companies. “We have proof that the terrorist attack was planned and carried out with the involvement of representatives of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Nayda said. “We know that Russia is trying to hide its terrorist activity and their direct involvement.” While Russian officials have stopped short of pointing a direct finger at Kiev, they have issued their own calls for a thorough international inquiry. In a statement on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said “appeals to both sides of the Ukrainian conflict, urging them to do everything possible to enable access for international experts to the airplane crash area in order to take action necessary for the investigation.”
The allegations of a cover-up, to hide the weaponry shortly after the missile strike and to prevent investigators from collecting evidence, threatened to further inflame an already highly charged international episode. The Kremlin has forcefully denied any role in the downing of Flight 17 and has said that the Ukrainian military’s anti-aircraft weapons may have been responsible. In Kiev, officials also said there was still no clear information about the location of the flight data recorders. They were said to be recovered at the scene but then taken by rebels. On Saturday, however, a rebel leader, Alexander Borodai, said that they devices had not yet been found, Ukrainian news services reported.
Ukrainian officials, by contrast, leveled forceful accusations. In Malaysia, where officials are grappling with the tragedy of losing a second major jetliner this year, the government has joined the call for an investigation but is also reluctant to assign blame for the incident. Experts and officials said two concerns shaped the Malaysia government’s wariness: its bruising experience with confusion after the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 over four months ago, and a desire not to alienate Russia and China, its main partner in east Asia, unless necessary. Still, Malaysian officials strongly denounced the lack of security at the crash site.
“We have proof that the terrorist attack was planned and carried out with the involvement of representatives of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Nayda said. “We know that Russia is trying to hide its terrorist activity and their direct involvement.” At a news conference on Saturday, Liow Tiong Lai, the Malaysian transport minister, said, “we urge all those involved to respect the families, and the nations who have lost their sons and daughters in this attack. Yes, MH17 has become a geopolitical issue, but we must not forget that it is a human tragedy.”
“The international community,” he added, “should ask Russian authorities, President Putin, how Russia will help in the investigation of this terrorist act, to us to interview the Russian military men who launched that missile.” He added, “Days after the plane went down, the remains of 298 people lie uncovered. Citizens of 11 nations — none of whom are involved in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine —cannot be laid to rest.”
Russian officials have issued their own calls for a thorough international investigation, and demanded that Ukraine turn over all evidence for an independent inquiry. In a statement on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it “appeals to both sides of the Ukrainian conflict, urging them to do everything possible to enable access for international experts to the airplane crash area in order to take action necessary for the investigation.” Adding to the outrage over the downing of the plane, the Ukrainian government also charged that rebels had moved at least 38 bodies of victims to a morgue in Donetsk, a regional capital and rebel stronghold. Officials had planned to take victims to Kharkiv, a city in the east outside of rebel control, and where they said a special lab would help identify remains.
In Malaysia, where officials are grappling with the tragedy of losing a second major jetliner this year, the government has joined the call for a thorough investigation but has been far more cautious in assigning any blame, potentially complicating any effort by the United States to press Russia over its role. Underscoring the raw emotion over the handling of the disaster scene, the Netherlands’ foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, who was in Kiev on Saturday, urged that his country be allowed to bring the bodies of victims home to their loved ones “with dignity” and without interference.
Experts and officials said two concerns shaped the Malaysia government’s wariness: its bruising experience with confusion after the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 more than four months ago, and a desire not to alienate Russia and China, its main partner in east Asia, unless absolutely necessary. The wariness continued even as Malaysian officials strongly denounced the lack of security at the crash site. “My first priority is to return our people home,” he said after meeting with President Petro O. Poroshenko. “Families want to bury their loved ones,” Mr. Timmermans said, adding that relatives are “angered by what they hear.” By Saturday afternoon, it was not clear who was in charge at the crash site. Journalists were being restricted from entering certain areas, at times by a man in fatigues who occasionally made his point by a firing a gun into the air. He wore a badge from the general prosecutor’s office.
Adding to the outrage over the downing of Flight 17, the Ukrainian government accused the separatist rebels of blocking recovery workers from the wreckage scene, near the town of Grobova, and of trying to destroy evidence. Several tents had been set up as a headquarters, but emergency workers said they did not know who was in charge of plane parts.
The government also said that rebels had moved at least 38 bodies of victims to a morgue in Donetsk, a regional capital and rebel stronghold. Ukraininan officials had planned to take victims to Kharkiv, a city in the east outside of rebel control, where they said a special laboratory would help identify remains. Alexander Yakubovsky, an official in the general prosecutor’s office in Donetsk, confirmed rescue workers had removed some bodies but said they were only those that had fallen into homes and courtyards — approximately 30, he said, and they had been taken to the morgue in Donetsk.
In Kiev, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council, said that officials believed rebels were blocking access in order to remove missile fragments that would prove that a Russian missile had destroyed the plane. He said officials from the state Emergency Services Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the general prosecutor’s office had been denied access, though uniformed regional emergency services workers were actively engaged in collecting bodies on Saturday. Mr. Yakubovsky said that his office had a ‘small team’ of investigators working on the scene but their role was not immediately clear
Alexander Borodai, a Russian citizen who is a leader of the separatist movement, has denied that rebels were interfering with the recovery operation. On Saturday afternoon, at the scene of the crash, rescue workers in blue uniforms started to direct the collection of bodies from the fields where they fell, placing them on stretchers and into black body bags. A cluster of about 10 victims lay in the grass by the road, as men in pairs made their way through the grass to retrieve them. Mr. Yakubovsky said he could not comment on allegations that rebels have blocked federal investigators from Kiev. Ukraine’s central government, he said, had forbid the office from working at the site and a number of workers had declined to participate in the work.
A supervisor, Aleksei Sergeyevich, who would give only his first name and patronymic, , said that since 6 a.m., workers had gathered 190 bodies, some broken in pieces. He said the recovery area had been increased to 35 square kilometers from the initial 15-square kilometer zone, and that 343 workers were participating in the effort, including volunteers and rebels. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who were denied access to the site on Friday, had been permitted to enter, a spokesman said. In Kiev, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council, said that officials believed rebels were blocking access in order to remove missile fragments that would prove that a Russian missile destroyed the plane. He said officials from the state Emergency Services Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the general prosecutor’s office had been denied access, though uniformed regional emergency services workers were actively engaged in collecting bodies on Saturday.
The allegations from Kiev and overseas did not seem to change the minds of the many locals residents who blame the Ukrainian military for the crash, . A small group of locals who stood along the road near the crash site held signs, written in English, that read: “Stop the Ukrainian fascist army,” and “Stop the Genocide in Donbass.” Mr. Borodai, a Russian citizen who is a leader of the separatist movement, has denied that rebels were interfering with the recovery operation. On Saturday afternoon, rescue workers in blue uniforms started to direct the collection of bodies from the fields where they fell, placing them on stretchers and into black body bags. A cluster of about 10 lay in the grass by the road, as men in pairs made their way through the grass, retrieving them.
In Russia on Saturday, the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir V. Putin had spoken by telephone with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany about the crash investigation and the need to pursue a cease-fire in southeastern Ukraine. A supervisor, Aleksei Sergeyevich, who asked that his last name not be published, said that since 6 a.m., workers had gathered 190 bodies, some broken in pieces. He said the recovery area had been increased by more than double, to 35 square kilometers from the initial 15-square kilometer zone, and that 343 workers were participating in the effort, including volunteers and rebels. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who were denied access to the site on Friday, had been permitted to entire, a spokesman said.
In Russia on Saturday, the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir V. Putin had spoken by telephone with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, about both the airliner investigation and the need to pursue a cease-fire in southeastern Ukraine.
The two leaders agreed to the need for a “thorough and objective investigation of all the circumstances of the incident,” according to a brief statement on the Kremlin website.The two leaders agreed to the need for a “thorough and objective investigation of all the circumstances of the incident,” according to a brief statement on the Kremlin website.
The Russian government maintained that the Ukrainian military could possibly have shot down the aircraft. The deputy minister of defense, Anatoly I. Antonov, called on Ukraine to hand over all the documents related to its surface-to-air missile systems to the international investigators — once such an inquiry was organized.
Appearing on the state-run Rossiya 24 satellite, Mr. Antonov said that the rush to blame Russia or the militiamen in southeastern Ukraine smacked of the “information war” that Ukraine and its Western allies had been waging for months. He said that he wanted to know why the Ukraine military deployed its Russian-made SA-11 Buk antiaircraft system in the east of the country since the insurgents have no air force.
“Are Ukrainian armed forces officials ready to provide international experts with the documents about the number of the air-to-air missiles and surface-to-air missiles that are available for its anti-aircraft-missile systems?” the deputy minister said. “This is a very important question that will allow us to determine what systems were used against the Malaysian Boeing.”
At a news conference in Washington on Friday, Rear Admiral John F. Kirby said that it would have been difficult for the separatists to have fired the SA-11 without Russian help.
The missile “is a sophisticated piece of technology,” said Admiral Kirby, who added that “it strains credulity to think that it could be used by separatists without at least some measure of Russian support and technical assistance.”
Admiral Kirby also raised the possibility that the Russian military have driven the SA-11 system into Ukraine and even fired it.
“It was a surface-to-air missile, an SA-11, fired from a location controlled by Russian separatists near the border,” he said. “Whether it was a Russian military unit that did it or it was a separatist unit that did it, we don’t know.”