By Anton Zverev
HRABOVE Ukraine (Reuters) - A Malaysian airliner was brought down in
eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply
raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels that
has set Russia and the West at daggers drawn.
As the United States said the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 from
Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was "blown out of the sky", probably by a
ground-launched missile, Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of blame,
cranking up global pressure for a way out of a bloody local conflict
that risks fueling a new Cold War.
Ukraine accused pro-Moscow militants, aided by Russian military
intelligence officers, of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11
ground-to-air missile. Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic
denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought
down the intercontinental flight.
But separatists have said that they took control of such a missile
system last month and had used it to shoot down a Ukrainian military
transport plane that was destroyed on Monday.
The scale of the disaster, which left scores of unsuspecting
foreigners, adults and children, strewn lifeless across the muddy
Ukrainian steppe, could prove a turning point for international pressure
to resolve the crisis. It has killed hundreds in since protests toppled
the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the
Crimea a month later.
The United Nations Security Council plans an emergency meeting on
Ukraine on Friday, diplomats said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
urged a full international investigation.
Reuters journalists saw burning and charred wreckage bearing the red
and blue Malaysia insignia and dozens of bodies strewn in fields near
the village of Hrabove, 40 km (25 miles) from the Russian border near
the rebel-held regional capital of Donetsk.
More than half of the dead, 154 people, were Dutch. Another 27 were Australian and 23 Malaysian.
The Ukrainian government, condemning an act of "terrorism", released
recordings it said were of Russian intelligence officers discussing the
shooting down of a civilian airliner by rebels who may have mistaken it
for a Ukrainian military plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pinned the blamed on Kiev for
renewing its offensive against the rebels two weeks ago after a
ceasefire failed to hold. The Kremlin leader called it a "tragedy" but
did not say who brought the Boeing down.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said the jet was "blown out of the sky"
and a U.S. official said that, while its origin was unclear, a
surface-to-air missile was probably responsible.
After the downing of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area
in recent months, including two this week, Kiev had accused Russian
forces of playing a direct role. International air lanes had remained
open, though only above 32,000 feet. The Malaysia plane was flying 1,000
feet higher, officials said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said it was unclear whether Americans were aboard. A Ukrainian official said there were 23.
As word came in of what Ukraine's Western-backed president called a
"terrorist attack", Obama was on the phone with Putin, discussing a new
round of economic sanctions that Washington and its EU partners imposed
to try to force Putin to do more to curb the revolt against the
Western-backed government in Kiev.
They noted the early reports during their telephone call, the White
House said, adding that Obama warned of further sanctions if Moscow did
not change course in Ukraine.
WRECKAGE, BODIES
Malaysia Airlines said air traffic controllers lost contact with
flight MH-17 in the afternoon as it flew over eastern Ukraine towards
the Russian border, bound for Asia with 280 passengers and 15 crew
aboard. Flight tracking data indicated it was at its cruising altitude
of 33,000 feet when it disappeared.
That would be beyond the range of smaller rockets used by the rebels
to bring down helicopters and other low-flying Ukrainian military
aircraft - but not of the SA-11 system which a Ukrainian official
accused Russia of supplying to the rebels.
Separatists have been quoted in Russian media saying they had
acquired one. One group was quoted as saying that it used an SA-11 on
Monday to bring down an Antonov An-26 turboprop plane - a loss that the
Ukrainian forces had confirmed this week along with the downing of a
Sukhoi Su-25 fighter on Wednesday.
"I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a
plane and then a bang," one local man at told Reuters at Hrabove, known
in Russian as Grabovo. "Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break
in two. There was thick black smoke."
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