Anti-air Missile System BUK-ะœ2
© RIA Novosti/ Ilya PitalevAnti-air Missile System BUK-ะœ2
Independence supporters in the southeast of Ukraine have not captured Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema said Friday.
"After the passenger plane was shot down, the military reported to the president that the terrorists don't have our missile systems Buk and S-300. Nobody captured these weapons," Yarema said in an interview to Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper.

On Thursday, the adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Anton Gerashchenko, wrote on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters and was shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft missile.

Independence supporters claimed that they had no weapons capable of shooting down a plane at such an altitude.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, killing all the 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.


Comment: Then there is this from the day before:


Ukrainian Army Buk Missile Likely Downed Malaysian Plane

MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - A Ukrainian army battalion of Buk air defense systems was deployed near the city of Donetsk a day before the crash of a Malaysian passenger plane on Thursday, making the downing of the aircraft by one of the missiles highly probable, an expert source said.

"According to reconnaissance data, a Ukrainian army battalion of Buk air defense systems was deployed near Donetsk on Wednesday morning," the source said.

The source added that armed militia fighting Kiev-led forces in eastern Ukraine does not have Buk systems, which are capable of shooting down aircraft flying at altitudes up to 25 kilometers (82,000 feet).

Earlier the same day, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister wrote on his Facebook page that a Buk surface-to-air missile system was indeed used to down the plane, but insisted that the self-defense forces had done that.


Comment: Apparently these guys can't get their stories straight.


According to various reports, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday. There were 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it had lost contact with its plane when it was above the Ukrainian airspace.

"Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow," the company said on Twitter.

Witnesses from the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region told RIA Novosti that plane wreckage and dead bodies have been located in the area.