Obama: Plane shot down by missile, 1 American dead
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States began building a case Friday that would pin the blame for the downing of the 
passenger jet over Ukraine on separatist forces supported by Russia. President Barack Obama said one American was among the nearly 300 killed in an disaster that could dramatically escalate the crisis in Ukraine.Obama said evidence so far indicates that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile from an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists. He noted it wasn’t the first time the separatists had shot down planes in the region, adding that a “steady flow of support from Russia” had included heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weapons.He called for an immediate cease-fire to allow for a full investigation”This was a global tragedy,” Obama said. “An Asian airliner was destroyed in European skies filled with citizens from many countries, so there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened.”Officials from the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board were on their way to Ukraine to help determine what happened, Obama said. He warned that evidence must not be tampered with as a United Nations-backed investigation goes forward, and he said, “We will hold all its members, including Russia, to their word” in allowing access to the crash.”This should snap everybody’s heads to attention,” Obama said.
Obama: Plane shot down by missile, 1 American dead
Pres. Obama: Evidence indicates plane shot downWASHINGTON (AP) — The United States began building a case Friday that would pin the blame for the downing of the passenger jet over Ukraine on separatist forces supported by Russia, in a disaster that could dramatically escalate the crisis in Ukraine. President Barack Obama said one American was among the nearly 300 killed and called for an immediate cease-fire to allow for an unfettered investigation.Related Stories
Evidence indicates that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile from an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists, Obama said at the White House. He warned that the incident showed the crisis in Ukraine won’t be localized or contained to the region.”This should snap everybody’s heads to attention,” Obama said.He identified the U.S. citizen who was killed as Quinn Lucas Schansman. No other details were available on the passenger.While cautioning that the exact circumstances of the crash were still being determined, Obama pointed his finger at Russia for providing support to separatists that he suggested enabled them to shoot down the plane. He said such an attack wouldn’t be possible without sophisticated equipment and training — “and that is coming from Russia.””Obviously, we’re beginning to draw some conclusions given the nature of the shot that was fired,” Obama said in a stern address at the White House. “There are only certain types of anti-aircraft missiles that can reach up 30,000 feet and shoot down a passenger jet.”View gallery
Widi Yuwono, the brother of Yuli Hastini, right, shows her sister’s family portrait with her Dut …Officials from the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board were on their way to Ukraine to help determine what happened, Obama said. He warned that evidence must not be tampered with as a United Nations-backed investigation goes forward, and he said, “We will hold all its members, including Russia, to their word” in allowing access to the crash.At the United Nations earlier Friday, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power delivered an extraordinary speech rebuking Russia and noting that the U.S. could not rule out that Russian personnel had assisted separatists in firing a missile at the plane.”Russia can end this war,” Power said. “Russia must end this war.”The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a single investigator to Ukraine as part of a U.S. delegation to assist with the investigation.The White House has taken the lead in forming the U.S. delegation, according to an official familiar with the effort. A command center has been set up at the State Department, where officials from agencies participating in the delegation gathered Friday morning for a briefing from the CIA on the political and military situation in Ukraine, the official said.View gallery
A piece of a plane with the sign “Malaysia Airlines” lies in the grass as a group of Ukrai …A second U.S. official said all available evidence, including satellite imagery, pointed to the plane being shot down by an SA-11 anti-aircraft missile fired from eastern Ukraine by Ukrainian separatist forces. The U.S. detected three discrete events associated with the shootdown, the official said: the launching of the missile from the Ukraine side of the border, the missile’s impact with the plane, and the plane slamming into the ground.Both officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss U.S. intelligence matters publicly by name.The attack Thursday afternoon killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations, including vacationers, students and a large contingent of scientists. At least 189 of the dead were from the Netherlands.The plane was shot down in eastern, Ukraine, near the border with Russia, in an area where Moscow’s support for pro-Russian separatists has alarmed the U.S. and its European allies. The incident occurred one day after Obama announced broader economic sanctions against Russia for its threatening moves in Ukraine._Associated Press writers Joan Lowy and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Just on a technical matter, does the U.S. believe that this passenger jet was targeted or that those people who shot it down may have been going after a military – thought they were going after a military aircraft? And more broadly, this incident does seem to escalate the crisis in Ukraine to a level we haven’t seen before. Does that change your calculus in terms of what the U.S. and perhaps Europe should be doing in (terms of a ?) response?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think it’s too early for us to be able to guess what the intentions of those who might have launched the – this surface-to-air missile might have had. The investigation’s going to be ongoing, and I think what we’ll see is additional information surfacing over the next 24 hours, 72 hours, the next week, the next month.
What we know right now, what we have confidence in saying right now is that a surface-to-air missile was fired, and that’s what brought the jet down. We know – we have confidence in saying that that shot was taken with a territory that is controlled by the Russian separatists.
But I think it’s very important for us to make sure that we don’t get out ahead of the facts. And at this point, in terms of identifying specifically what individual or group of individuals or, you know, personnel ordered the – the strike, how it came about, those are things that I think are still going to be subject to additional information that we’re going to be gathering. And we’re working with the entire international community to make sure that the focus is on getting to the bottom of this thing and being truthful. And my concern is obviously that there’s been a lot of misinformation generated in eastern Ukraine generally. This should snap everybody’s heads to attention and make sure that we don’t have time for propaganda, we don’t have time for games, we need to know exactly what happened, and everybody needs to make sure that we’re holding accountable those who – who committed this outrage.
With respect to the second question, as you’re aware, before this terrible incident happened, we had already ratcheted up sanctions against Russia, and I think the concern not just of the Russian officials but of the markets about the impact that this could have on the Russian economy is there for all to see.
I made clear to President Putin that our preferred path is to resolve this diplomatically, but that means that he and the Russian government have to make a strategic decision. Are they going to continue to support violent separatists whose intent is to undermine the government of Ukraine, or are they prepared to work with the government of Ukraine to arrive at a cease-fire and a peace that takes into account the interests of all Ukrainians?
There has been some improved language at times over the last month coming from the Kremlin and coming from President Putin, but what we have not seen is an actual transition and different actions that would give us confidence that that’s the direction that they want to take. And, you know, we will continue to make clear that as Russia, you know, engages in efforts that are supporting the separatists, that we have a capacity to increase the costs that we impose on them, and we will do so – not because we’re interested in hurting Russia for the sake of hurting Russia, but because we believe in standing up for the basic principle that a country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity has to be respected, and it is not the United States, or Russia, or Germany, or any other country that should be deciding what happens in that country.
Q: At this point, do you see any U.S. military role that could be effective?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We don’t see a U.S. military role beyond what we’ve already been doing in working with our NATO partners and some of the Baltic states, giving them reassurances that we are prepared to do whatever is required to meet our alliance obligations.
Steve Holland.
Q: Sir, thank you. How much blame for this do you put on President Putin? And will you use this incident now to push the Europeans for stronger action?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We don’t know exactly what happened yet, and I don’t want to, as I said before, get out ahead of the facts. But what I do know is, is that we have seen a ticking up of violence in eastern Ukraine that despite the efforts of the Ukrainian government to abide by a cease-fire and to reach out and agree to negotiations, including with the separatists, that has been rebuffed by these separatists. We know that they are heavily armed and they are trained, and we know that that’s not an accident. That is happening because of Russian support. So, you know, it is not possible for these separatists to function the way they’re functioning, to have the equipment that they have – set aside what’s happened, you know, with respect to the Malaysian Airlines, a group of separatists can’t shoot down military transport planes, or they claim, shoot down fighter jets without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training, and that is coming from Russia.So we don’t yet know exactly what happened with respect to the Malaysian Airlines, although obviously we’re beginning to draw some conclusions given the nature of the shot that was fired. There are only certain types of anti-aircraft missiles that can reach up 30,000 feet and shoot down a passenger jet. We have increasing confidence that it came from areas controlled by the separatists.But without having a definitive judgment on those issues yet, what we do know is, is that the violence that’s taking place there is facilitated in part – in large part – because of Russian support, and they have the ability to move those separatists in a different direction. If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters into Ukraine across the Ukrainian-Russian border, then it will stop. And if it stops, then the separatists will still have the capacity to enter into negotiations and try to arrive at the sort of political accommodations that Mr. Putin himself says he wants to see. He has the most control over that situation, and so far, at least, he has not exercised it.
Q: Tougher sanctions in Europe, will you push for –
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think that this certainly will be a wake-up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine, that it is not going to be localized, it is not going to be contained.
You know, what – what we’ve seen here is just in one country alone, our – our great allies the Dutch, 150 or more of their citizens being killed. And – and that, I think, sadly brings home the degree to which the stakes are high for Europe, not simply for the Ukrainian people, and – and that we have to be firm in our resolve in making sure that we are supporting Ukraine’s efforts to bring about a just cease-fire, and that we can move towards a political solution to this.
I’m going to make this the last question. Lisa Lerer, Bloomberg.
Q: Do we know yet if there are other Americans on board beyond the person you mentioned? And how do you prevent stricter restrictions, economic sanctions, from shocking the global economy – (off mic)?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We – we have been pretty methodical over the last 24 hours in working through the flight manifest and identifying which passengers might have had a U.S. passport. At this point, the individual that I mentioned is the sole person that we can definitively say was a U.S. or dual citizen.Because events are moving so quickly, I don’t want to say with absolute certainty that there might not be additional Americans, but at this stage, having worked through the list, been in contact with the Malaysian government, which, you know, processed the passports, you know, as folks were boarding. This is our best assessment of the – the number of Americans that were killed.
Obviously, that does nothing to lessen our outrage about all those families, regardless of nationality. It is – it is a heartbreaking event.
With respect to the effect of sanctions on the economy, we have consistently tried to tailor these sanctions in ways that would have an impact on Russia, on their economy, on their institutions, or individuals that are aiding and abetting in the activities that are taking place in eastern Ukraine, while minimizing the impacts on not only the U.S. economy, but the global economy.
It is a relevant consideration that we have to keep in mind. The world economy’s integrated. Russia is a large economy. There’s a lot of, you know, financial flows between Russia and the rest of the world. But we feel confident that, at this point, the sanctions that we put in place are imposing a cost on Russia, that their overall impact on the global economy is – is minimal. It is something that we have to, obviously, pay close attention to, but I think Treasury, in consultation with our European partners, have done a good job so far on that issue.
All right? Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
(Cross talk.)
Q: President Putin blamed this on Ukraine, sir. Any response to that?
(No audible response as President Obama leaves the microphones.)
If Ukraine rebels shot down MH17, Russia could reap the whirlwind Moscow is adamant that it had nothing to do with the destruction of the commercial airliner. But Russian experts say that proof that rebels were involved will bring the West down hard on Putin.
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Who fired the missile? No one claiming responsibility for shooting down MH17
Russia, Ukraine Trade Blame Over MH17 Crash, and More
MH17: When it Lost Contact and Crashed
FAA prohibits American carriers from flying in MH17 crash airspaceRussian security experts – if not the Kremlin – were coming to grips Friday with the likelihood that the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by an advanced air defense missile wielded by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine‘s eastern Donetsk region.Related StoriesIf the allegations prove true, they warn the global outrage against Russia will be comparable to the white-hot fury that took hold after the USSR shot down Korean airliner KAL 007 in 1983 after mistaking it for a US spy plane.A similar level of isolation and world-wide condemnation could be facing Russia now, they say, unless President Vladimir Putin takes decisive steps to demonstrate that the Kremlin wants to be a constructive actor amid Ukraine’s spiraling crisis.Recommended: How much do you know about Ukraine? Take our quiz!“The facts will inevitably come in, and if it is shown that Russian-supported rebels did this, the whole conversation about Ukraine will change,” says Alexander Golts, a military expert with the online journal Yezhednevny Zhurnal. “In the eyes of the world there will be no difference between Russia and the rebels. Everyone knows who arms and supports these rebels, and that will be enough for most people to blame Russia.”Some argue that it’s possible the horror of the airliner’s downing in the heart of Europe could force all sides to step back from the escalating hostilities in eastern Ukraine and the increasingly vicious “information war” that has accompanied it. View galleryA piece of a plane with the sign “Malaysia Airlines” lies in the grass as a group of Ukrai …”Much will depend on how Russia behaves now,” says Alexei Makarkin, director of the independent Center of Political Technologies in Moscow. The key players in the Ukraine drama are poised at a crossroads, he says.”A compromise aimed at avoiding any further escalation is possible. But the West will demand that Russia leave eastern Ukraine for good, and many in Russia will not accept that. So, it’s also possible that we’ll see a severe aggravation of our position, with tougher sanctions and US supplies of military aid to Ukraine,” Mr. Makarkin adds.The Kremlin has so far confined itself to expressing condolences, calling for a full and objective international investigation, and President Putin’s blanket suggestion that, whatever the truth may turn out to be, Ukrainian leaders will have to shoulder the blame since it is they who have turned eastern Ukraine into a war zone.”This tragedy would not have occurred if there were peace in that country, or in any case, if hostilities had not resumed in southeast Ukraine. And certainly, the government over whose territory it occurred is responsible for this terrible tragedy,” Putin told a government meeting Friday.But experts say the issue of who actually pulled the trigger, and where they obtained the sophisticated air defense missile needed in order to destroy a plane 5 miles above, is going to be central to the tense conversations of the next few days. Russian security experts say that only the US has the satellite and other surveillance capabilities to pinpoint the exact location of the missile launch, which will go far in determining who did it.Russia, Ukraine Trade Blame Over MH17 Crash, and M …Play Video
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Official: 181 bodies found at Malaysian plane site
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Official: 181 bodies found at Malaysian plane sitePres. Obama: Evidence indicates plane shot downKIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners — dressed in overalls and covered in soot — spread out Friday across the sunflower fields and villages of eastern Ukraine, searching the wreckage of the Malaysian plane shot down as it flew miles above the country’s battlefield.Related Stories
The attack Thursday afternoon killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations and left enormous questions unanswered.U.S. intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, but could not say who fired it. The Ukraine government in Kiev, the separatist pro-Russia rebels they are fighting in the east and the Russia government that Ukraine accuses of supporting the rebels all deny shooting the passenger plane down. Moscow also denies backing the rebels.By midday, 181 bodies had been located, according to emergency workers at the sprawling crash site.Ukraine has called for an international probe to determine who attacked the plane and the Unites States has offered to help. But access to the site remained difficult and dangerous. The road from Donetsk, the largest city in the region, to the crash site was marked by five rebel checkpoints Friday, with document checks at each.Separatist rebels who control the crash say they have recovered most of its black boxes and were considering what to do with them. Their statement had profound implications for the integrity of the plane crash investigation.View gallery
A woman walks at the site of a crashed Malaysia Airlines passenger plane near the village of Rozsypn …An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott demanded an independent inquiry into the downing.”The initial response of the Russian ambassador was to blame Ukraine for this and I have to say that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory,” he said. “It’s very important that we don’t allow Russia to prevent an absolutely comprehensive investigation so that we can find out exactly what happened here.””This is not an accident, it’s a crime,” he added.For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Kiev’s accusations that Moscow could be behind the attack.”Regarding those claims from Kiev that we allegedly did it ourselves: I have not heard a truthful statement from Kiev for months,” he told the Rossiya 24 television channel.View gallery
A piece of a plane with the sign “Malaysia Airlines” lies in the grass as a group of Ukrai …The crash site was spread out over fields between two villages in eastern Ukraine — Rozsypne and Hrabove — and fighting apparently still continued nearby. In the distance, the thud of Grad missile launchers being fired could be heard Friday morning.In the sunflower fields around Rozsypne, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, lines of men disappeared into the thick, tall growth that was over their heads. One fainted after finding a body. Another body was covered in a coat.In Hrabove, several miles away, huge numbers of simple sticks, some made from tree branches, were affixed with red or white rags to mark spots where body parts were found.Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative Andriy Sybiga said 181 bodies had been found, citing local emergency workers. He said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometers (170 miles) to the north, for identification.Among the debris were watches and smashed mobile phones, charred boarding passes and passports. An “I (heart) Amsterdam” T-shirt and a guidebook to Bali hinted at holiday plans.View gallery
People walk amongst the debris at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Hrabove, U …Large chunks of the Boeing 777 that bore the airline’s red, white and blue markings lay strewn over one field. The cockpit and one turbine lay a kilometer (a half-mile) apart, and residents said the tail landed another 10 kilometers (six miles) away.One rebel militiaman in Rozsypne told The Associated Press that the plane’s fuselage showed signs of being struck by a projectile.The area has seen heavy fighting between government troops and pro-Russia separatists, and rebels had bragged about shooting down two Ukrainian military jets in the region just a day earlier.Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the downing, saying it was responsible for the unrest in its Russian-speaking eastern regions — but did not accuse Ukraine of shooting the plane down and did not address the key question of whether Russia gave the rebels such a powerful missile.Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk described the downing as an “international crime” whose perpetrators would have to be punished in an international tribunal.View gallery
Ukrainian rescuers walk past debris at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Hrabo …”Yesterday’s terrible tragedy will change our lives. The Russians have done it now,” he was cited as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.An assistant to the insurgency’s military commander, Igor Girkin, said Friday on condition of anonymity that eight out of the plane’s 12 recording devices had been located at the crash site. He did not elaborate. Since airplanes normally have both a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, it was not exactly clear what devices he was referring to.He said Girkin was still considering whether to give international crash investigators access to the sprawling crash site. Any investigators would need specific permission from the rebel leadership before they could safely film or take photos at the crash site, he said.Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said the plane was flying at about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lay repeatedly insisted that the airline’s path was an internationally approved route and denied accusations that Malaysia Airlines was trying to save fuel and money by taking a more direct flight path across Ukraine.View gallery
People hold candles and place flower tribute outside the Dutch embassy to commemorate victims of Mal …”I want to stress that this route is an approved path that is used by many airlines including 15 Asia-Pacific airlines. We have not been informed that the path cannot be used,” he saidMalaysia’s prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down.Aviation authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United States, had issued previous warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March. Within hours of the crash Thursday, several airlines announced they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace.On Friday, Ukraine’s state aviation service closed the airspace over two regions currently gripped by separatist fighting — Donetsk and Luhansk — and Russian aviation regulators said Russian airlines have suspended all flights over Ukraine.At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines updated its nationality count of passengers, saying the plane carried 173 Dutch, 24 Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one person each from Canada and New Zealand.Passengers on the plane included a large contingent of world-renowned AIDS researchers and activists headed to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia. News of their deaths sparked an outpouring of grief across the global scientific community.In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of victims were meeting with counselors at the international airport. A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to visit the family for the first time in five years.”She called me just before she boarded the plane and said, ‘See you soon,’” Akmar said.In the Netherlands, flags were flying at half-staff across the country as residents mourned the victims._Karmanau reported from Kiev. Others who contributed included Peter Leonard in Kiev; Mstyslav Chernov in Rozsypne, Ukraine; Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow; Lolita C. Baldor and Darlene Superville in Washington; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; and Eileen Ng and Satish Cheney in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Missile That Hit Malaysia Airlines Jet Launched From Area Controlled by Russian Separatists: US Official
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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 Shot Down: Timeline of What Happened Intelligence officials in the United States said today that the missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and killed 298 people was launched from inside Ukraine in an area controlled by Russian Separatists.Related StoriesThere is nothing that definitively links Russia to the training of those who launched the missile on Thursday, U.S. officials told ABC News.The officials said that based on preliminary intelligence, they believe the missile was an SA-11 and that they have reports showing an explosion in the air following the missile launch.PHOTOS: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Downed in Eastern UkraineMalaysia Airline Plane Downed in Ukraine, Witness Says ‘Bodies Everywhere’What Actually Happens When A Missile Strikes A PlaneOn the Scene of the Wreckage of Malaysia Flight 17 Play Video
Obama warns Russia, Ukrainian separatists over downed airliner
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President Barack Obama delivered an unmistakable warning to Russia and Moscow-backed Ukrainian separatists on Thursday not to tamper with the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet apparently shot down over rebel-controlled territory.Related StoriesWith no hope for the roughly 300 people board the Boeing 777, Obama discussed the tragedy with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by telephone and offered “all possible assistance immediately” to figure out what happened, the White House said in a summary of the call.Poroshenko “welcomed the assistance of international investigators to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation of the crash site,” according to the summary.“The presidents emphasized that all evidence from the crash site must remain in place on the territory of Ukraine until international investigators are able to examine all aspects of the tragedy,” the White House said.That amounted to a warning to Ukrainian separatists who control the area – as well as to their patrons in Moscow – to ensure that critical evidence not disappear, either through looting or by willful tampering to conceal who was behind the tragedy.Obama placed the telephone call from Air Force One as he jetted to New York City for a brace of Democratic fundraisers. He also called Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Earlier, the president stopped in Wilmington, Del., for an event where he knocked Republicans over infrastructure funding.While Obama kept to his heavily partisan public schedule, the White House portrayed the president as working hard behind the scenes to address the crisis.Obama spoke to Secretary of State John Kerry by telephone, and later consulted CIA Director John Brennan, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stephanie O’Sullivan, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, and deputy national security advisers Lisa Monaco and Ben Rhodes, according to a White House list. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice were not among the publicly released names.Earlier, Vice President Joe Biden declared that the jet, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was apparently “shot down – not an accident, blown out of the sky.”In remarks to the Netroots Nation gathering in Detroit, Biden laid out how the airliner, carrying some 300 people to Kuala Lumpur, went down near the border “apparently – I say apparently because I don’t have the actual, we don’t have all the details and I want to be sure of what I say – apparently had been shot down. Shot down. Not an accident. Blown out of the sky.”View galleryA piece of a plane with the sign “Malaysia Airlines” lies in the grass as a group of Ukrai …“We have seen reports that there may have been American citizens on board, and obviously, that’s our first concern,” he added. “We’re now working every minute to confirm those reports as I speak. This is truly a grave situation.”His remarks echoed Obama’s pledge, in Wilmington, to make it his “first priority” to figure out whether there were U.S. citizens on board.“As a country, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of the passengers, wherever they call home,” the president told supporters in Wilmington.“Right now, we’re working to determine whether there were Americans citizens on board. That is our first priority,” Obama said. “I’ve directed my national security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian government. The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened, and why.”Before the vice president’s comments, officials at the White House and State Department had stubbornly fended off feverish speculation that Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine could have blown the airliner from the sky, insisting into the afternoon that they could not confirm any details.Republican Senator John McCain said the United States should know what happened “within hours” and should respond “within minutes,” by moving to arm Ukrainian government forces if it turns out the separatists were to blame.“We’ll have to give arms to the Ukrainians, which we’ve refused to do so far, shamefully. This will obviously affect our relations with Russia dramatically.”Republican House Speaker John Boehner took a wait-and-see approach, saying in a statement: “Many innocents were killed today. It is horrifying, and we await the facts. Right now, we should all take a moment to reflect, count our blessings, and convey our prayers to the loved ones of the victims.”The tragic incident seemed certain to pour fuel on burning passions in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which has annexed the strategic Crimean Peninsula. On Wednesday, Obama and European leaders unveiled the latest round of economic sanctions meant to bring Moscow to heel.Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen and a top aide to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had already been expected in Congress to brief lawmakers behind closed doors on nuclear talks with Iran. Officials said they now expected those discussions to broaden to include the airplane tragedy.Before leaving the White House for Delaware for a speech knocking Republicans over infrastructure funding and later heading to New York for a pair of Democratic fundraisers, Obama spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One that Putin had raised the question of early reports about the plane toward the end of the call.In a separate statement, Putin’s office noted that “the Russian leader informed the U.S. president of the report received from air traffic controllers immediately prior to their conversation, about the crash of a Malaysian airplane over the Ukrainian territory.”Earlier, Obama went ahead with a photo op at a popular Wilmington, Del., restaurant called the Charcoal Pit, posing for photos, picking up a baby and dropping the name of the vice president, whose home is nearby.“Me and Joe, we share shakes all the time,” he said. “Biden told me the burgers are pretty good.”Obama ordered a medium-well done “Pit Special” – a four-ounce burger with fries – with lettuce and tomato. He also requested a glass of water with lemon.As he left the White House at around 11:33 a.m. EST, the president ignored a shouted question about what he knew about the ill-fated flight.Meredith Shiner contributed to this report.
What Weapons Could Have Brought Down MH17 – And Why
View photo What Weapons Could Have Brought Down MH17 – And Why (ABC News)An American official said today that the U.S. believes a single surface-to-air missile caused the crash of an Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine today, potentially answering one of a host of questions about the tragedy, but leaving two big ones: If that’s true, who fired the missile, and was the plane the real target?Related StoriesUkrainian officials said that they suspected a Russian-built surface-to-air missile system was responsible for the crash and blamed Russian-trained separatists for hitting the civilian airliner.U.S. officials, including those from various intelligence agencies, said they’re still gathering information about the incident and have declined to comment about who is believed to be responsible. The U.S. official who said a single missile had been used also said it was unclear if the missile was fired from territory in Ukraine or Russia.Richard Clarke, former White House counter-terrorism advisor and ABC News consultant, said that if a Russian surface-to-air missile system was used, that wouldn’t necessarily point to who exactly pulled the trigger – whether the Ukrainian military, the Russian military or pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.Malaysia Airlines Plane Brought Down by Missile in Ukraine, US Official SaysMalaysia Airlines Plane Downed in Ukraine, Witness Says ‘Bodies Everywhere’ Who Will End Up With the Malaysia Airlines Black Box?There is also more than one system to consider. A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev earlier today noted that Ukrainian military analysts believe the Russian-made SA-17 Grizzly, or BUK-M2 as it’s known in Russia, may have fired the fatal shot.“If true, this represents a significant escalation,” the Embassy said. The Embassy described the SA-17 as a “sophisticated system requiring a whole suite of radar and command vehicles.”The SA-17 Grizzly is one of the more recent of the Russian BUK family of medium-range surface-to-air missile systems. Unlike shoulder-fired, MANPAD rockets, which have a limited range, the SA-17 is a large, mobile missile system fired from military vehicles that can reach tens of thousands of feet in the air – more than high enough to hit a jetliner at cruising altitude, according to an Australian industry analysis of the system.Developed by the Russians, the SA-17 system has been a point of pride in Moscow where it was featured among other weapons systems in Russian Victory Day parades through Red Square. The state-owned Russian news outlet RIA Novosti reported last year that Russian armed forces hoped to upgrade to a newer version of the missile system in 2016.Prior to the SA-17, the Russians developed the SA-11 Gadfly, or BUK-M1, which both the Russian military and the Ukrainian military operate. While less sophisticated, missiles fired from the SA-11 can still reach more than high enough to knock out an airliner at cruise altitude, according to IHS Jane’s Missiles and Rockets editor Doug Richardson.The Ukrainian military also has permanent, fixed position surface-to-air missile systems that would have “no difficulty downing a target flying at 30,000 feet,” but Richardson said operators for those would “have a good idea of the air traffic present in the surrounding area, so would be unlikely to mistake an airliner for a combat aircraft.”Ukraine has denied it was responsible, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “the state over whose territory it happened is responsible,” since the tragedy “would not have happened if there was peace on this land…” and Ukrainian Security Services released audio of what it said was intercepted conversations between pro-Russian militants that implicated them in the crash. The rebels have reportedly denied responsibility as well, their leader claiming they don’t have the weapons necessary to take down the aircraft.Last month, Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said that the Russian government had been training pro-Russian separatists inside Russia to have an “anti-aircraft capability.” That training, Breedlove said, then appeared to flow into Ukraine.“What we see in training on the east side of the border is big equipment, tanks, APCs [Armored Personnel Carriers], anti-aircraft capability, and now we see those capabilities being used on the west side of the border,” Breedlove told reporters. Breedlove said he had not seen training in the smaller MANPAD systems, but, “we have seen vehicle-borne capability being trained.”However, it’s unclear where the separatists may have actually acquired the missile launchers. A Russian news outlet reported earlier this month a group of rebels had seized one surface-to-air platform in Ukraine, but NYU professor and Russian-specialist Mark Galeotti wrote that report was “almost certainly preemptive disinformation.” Galeotti suspects the plane was brought down by a SA-11 “supplied by the Russians.” The U.S. State Department has said before Russia is supplying separatists with heavy weapons.Steve Ganyard, former Marine Corps fighter pilot and ABC News consultant, said that if the Russian missile systems were used by the rebels, the systems’ complexity could have played a role in the tragedy.“One idea, and it’s just an idea, that if this was caused a by shoot-down by the separatists themselves, they were probably given only very notional training on this very sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems. So they may not have been able to use the systems that would’ve identified this Malaysian aircraft as a civilian jetliner,” he said. “They may have just seen a target, locked on to it and said, ‘Ready, set, go, we’re going to fire.’”A senior U.S. official agreed that U.S. analysts fear relatively untrained separatists might have fired wildly, but emphasized that at this point, it’s all still just a theory.
Deleted posts suggest Ukraine rebels downed Malaysian jet in error
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Kiev (AFP) – Social media posts by pro-Russian insurgents – most of them hastily removed – suggest the rebels thought they had shot down a Ukrainian army plane before realising in horror that it was in fact a packed Malaysian airliner.Related StoriesThe Twitter and blog messages were immediately publicised by top Kiev officials in their furious information war with the Kremlin for global opinion and the hearts and minds of ethnic Russians caught in the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.Confirmation of separatist fighters killing 298 passengers and crew on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would further complicate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to paint their uprising as a fight for self-determination.Russia’s state media avoided any mention of the controversial posts and instead reported militia leaders’ later charges that the Ukrainian air force had shot down the Boeing 777 liner instead.- ‘We downed an An-26′ -The rebels first claimed to have downed at least one Ukrainian army plane over the strife-torn eastern rustbelt on late Thursday afternoon.The VK social networking page of Igor Strelkov – “defence minister” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic – first announced: “We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez.””And here is a video confirming that a ‘bird fell’,” said the post.The website then provides a link identical to that published by Ukrainian media in reports about the Malaysia Airlines jet.The video shows locals referring to the same coal mine in the region mentioned by Strelkov.View gallery
Map locating Saktarsk in Ukraine where a Malaysia Airlines jet crashed (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)The strongly pro-Kiev Ukrainska Pravda news site later posted an audio recording of what it claimed were the intercepted field communications between rebels and a Russian agent discussing the downing.”We just downed a plane,” a rebel the recording identifies as Bes (Demon) tells an alleged Russian military intelligency officer.Another recording shows one alleged fighter reporting from the site of the plane’s remains that it was “100 percent certain this is a civilian aircraft.”He spits out a Russian expletive when asked whether there were a lot of passengers on board.- ‘We have seized missiles’ -The VK post was soon removed – but not before its screen grab was captured and distributed in an English-language press release by the military headquarters of Kiev’s eastern campaign.The comments attributed to Strelkov did not identify what missile was used to down the craft at what Kiev said was an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet).But a message on the official Twitter account of the Donetsk People’s Republic had announced hours earlier that insurgents had seized a series of Russian-made Buk systems capable of soaring to that height.”@dnrpress: self-propelled Buk surface-to-air missile systems have been seized by the DNR from (Ukrainian) surface-to-air missile regiment A1402,” said the post.That tweet was later deleted as well.- Putin says Kiev responsible -Ukraine’s pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko quickly called the incident a “terrorist act” and said he “could not exclude” that the plane was shot down by the insurgents.But Putin said the incident would have never have happened had Poroshenko not ripped up a brief truce agreement and “resumed military activities in southeastern Ukraine”.Both separatist leaders and Russian defence officials also took pains to implicate Poroshenko’s forces and erase all memories of the insurgents’ initial pronouncements about downing a Ukrainian transport plane.Rebel Donetsk prime minister Oleksandr Borodai told Russian media that his units did not have equipment capable of reaching the cruising altitude of a Boeing.Borodai said it was “technically impossible” for the pro-Russian gunmen to have launched such a high-altitude strike.And the Russian defence ministry argued that it was far more likely for the Ukrainian military to have fired the Buk missile.”Statements by Kiev officials that such systems… were not used in air attacks arouse serious doubts,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Deleted posts suggest Ukraine rebels downed Malaysian jet in error
View galleryKiev (AFP) – Social media posts by pro-Russian insurgents – most of them hastily removed – suggest the rebels thought they had shot down a Ukrainian army plane before realising in horror that it was in fact a packed Malaysian airliner.Related StoriesThe Twitter and blog messages were immediately publicised by top Kiev officials in their furious information war with the Kremlin for global opinion and the hearts and minds of ethnic Russians caught in the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.Confirmation of separatist fighters killing 298 passengers and crew on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would further complicate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to paint their uprising as a fight for self-determination.Russia’s state media avoided any mention of the controversial posts and instead reported militia leaders’ later charges that the Ukrainian air force had shot down the Boeing 777 liner instead.- ‘We downed an An-26′ -The rebels first claimed to have downed at least one Ukrainian army plane over the strife-torn eastern rustbelt on late Thursday afternoon.The VK social networking page of Igor Strelkov – “defence minister” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic – first announced: “We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez.””And here is a video confirming that a ‘bird fell’,” said the post.The website then provides a link identical to that published by Ukrainian media in reports about the Malaysia Airlines jet.The video shows locals referring to the same coal mine in the region mentioned by Strelkov.View galleryMap locating Saktarsk in Ukraine where a Malaysia Airlines jet crashed (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)The strongly pro-Kiev Ukrainska Pravda news site later posted an audio recording of what it claimed were the intercepted field communications between rebels and a Russian agent discussing the downing.”We just downed a plane,” a rebel the recording identifies as Bes (Demon) tells an alleged Russian military intelligency officer.Another recording shows one alleged fighter reporting from the site of the plane’s remains that it was “100 percent certain this is a civilian aircraft.”He spits out a Russian expletive when asked whether there were a lot of passengers on board.- ‘We have seized missiles’ -The VK post was soon removed – but not before its screen grab was captured and distributed in an English-language press release by the military headquarters of Kiev’s eastern campaign.The comments attributed to Strelkov did not identify what missile was used to down the craft at what Kiev said was an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet).But a message on the official Twitter account of the Donetsk People’s Republic had announced hours earlier that insurgents had seized a series of Russian-made Buk systems capable of soaring to that height.”@dnrpress: self-propelled Buk surface-to-air missile systems have been seized by the DNR from (Ukrainian) surface-to-air missile regiment A1402,” said the post.That tweet was later deleted as well.- Putin says Kiev responsible -Ukraine’s pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko quickly called the incident a “terrorist act” and said he “could not exclude” that the plane was shot down by the insurgents.But Putin said the incident would have never have happened had Poroshenko not ripped up a brief truce agreement and “resumed military activities in southeastern Ukraine”.Both separatist leaders and Russian defence officials also took pains to implicate Poroshenko’s forces and erase all memories of the insurgents’ initial pronouncements about downing a Ukrainian transport plane.Rebel Donetsk prime minister Oleksandr Borodai told Russian media that his units did not have equipment capable of reaching the cruising altitude of a Boeing.Borodai said it was “technically impossible” for the pro-Russian gunmen to have launched such a high-altitude strike.And the Russian defence ministry argued that it was far more likely for the Ukrainian military to have fired the Buk missile.”Statements by Kiev officials that such systems… were not used in air attacks arouse serious doubts,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
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MH17 was carrying 298 people when it crashed in Ukraine By Anton Zverev Related StoriesHRABOVE Ukraine (Reuters) – World leaders called for a rapid investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine and justice for nearly 300 deaths that could mark a pivotal moment in deteriorating relations between Russia and the West.As Ukraine sought to rally international support against Russia, two U.S. officials said Washington strongly suspected the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 298 aboard was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian rebels backed by Moscow.There were no survivors from Thursday’s crash, the deadliest such attack on a commercial airliner, which scattered bodies across miles of rebel-held territory near the border with Russia. Flight MH17 was heading for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.Makeshift white flags marked where bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris. Others, stripped bare by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting weighed down by stones, one marked with a flower in remembrance.One pensioner told how a corpse smashed though the roof of her house. “There was a howling noise and everything started to rattle. Then objects started falling out of the sky,” said Irina Tipunova, 65. “And then I heard a roar and she landed in the kitchen.”Though no Americans were confirmed aboard – more than half those who died were Dutch – U.S. investigators were preparing to head to Ukraine to assist in the investigation, an official said. Another expressed concern it could be hampered by delays.The scale of the disaster could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula a month later.While the West has imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, the United States has been more aggressive than the European Union. Analysts say the response of Germany and other EU powers to the incident – possibly imposing more sanctions – could be crucial in deciding the next phase of the standoff with Moscow.Some commentators even recalled Germany’s sinking of the Atlantic liner Lusitania in 1915, which helped push the United States into World War One, but outrage in the West at Thursday’s carnage is not seen as leading to military intervention.The U.N. Security Council called for a “full, thorough and independent international investigation” into the downing of the plane and “appropriate accountability” for those responsible.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an initial response, said it was too early to decide on further sanctions before it was known exactly what had happened to the plane. Britain said the facts must be established by a UN-led investigation before additional sanctions were seriously considered.Kiev and Moscow immediately blamed each other for the disaster, triggering a new phase in their propaganda war.CRASH SITE The plane crashed about 40 km (25 miles) from the border with Russia near the regional capital of Donetsk, an area that is a stronghold of rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces and have brought down military aircraft.Leaders of the rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the intercontinental flight.Russia’s Defence Ministry later pointed the finger at Ukrainian ground forces, saying it had picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian missile system south of Donetsk when the airliner was brought down, Russian media reported.View gallery
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks at his meeting with mothers and wives of Ukrainian soldi …The Ukrainian security council said no missiles had been fired from its armouries. Officials also accused separatists of moving unused missiles into Russia after the incident.The Ukrainian government 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.The United States called for a ceasefire to allow access to the crash site, as did Merkel.”There are many indications that the plane was shot down, so we have to take things very seriously,” the German leader said.Latvia, a former Soviet state with a large ethnic Russian minority, said Moscow bore “full responsibility” for providing the separatists with missiles. Baltic neighbour Lithuania spoke of “a brutal act of terror”.Separatists told the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a security and rights agency, they would ensure safe access to the scene for international experts.The OSCE said 30 observers and experts from the organisation, which has monitors in the region, had reached the site on Friday.The plane’s two black boxes – voice and data recorders – were recovered, but it was unlikely they could determine it was a missile strike – let alone who launched it.Further complicating any investigation, local people were seen removing pieces of wreckage as souvenirs. The condition of the metal can indicate if it has been struck by a missile.Reuters journalists saw burning and charred wreckage bearing the red and blue Malaysia Airlines insignia and dozens of bodies in fields near the village of Hrabove, known in Russian as Grabovo.Ukraine said on Friday that up to 181 bodies had been found. The airline said it was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew.U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said the jetliner appeared to have been “blown out of the sky”. Ukraine has closed air space over the east of the country as Malaysia Airlines defended its use of a route that some other carriers had been avoiding.More than half of the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch. Twenty-nine were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, four Belgian, three Filipino, one Canadian, one New Zealand and 4 as yet unidentified. All 15 crew were Malaysian.A number of those on board were travelling to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne, including Joep Lange, an influential Dutch expert.”We lost somebody who wanted to make the world a better place,” said his friend Marcel Duyvestijn.”TRAGIC DAY, TRAGIC YEAR”The loss of MH17 is the second devastating blow for Malaysia Airlines this year, following the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 in March, which vanished with 239 passengers and crew on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.In Malaysia, there was a sense of disbelief that another airline disaster could strike so soon.”This is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said.International air lanes had been open in the area, though only above 32,000 feet. The Malaysia plane was flying 1,000 feet higher, at the instruction of Ukrainian air traffic control, although the airline had asked to fly at 35,000 feet.Relatives gathered at the airport in Kuala Lumpur and the Netherlands declared a day of national mourning, without apportioning blame. [Id:nL6N0PT227]TRADING BLAME Ukraine accused pro-Moscow militants, aided by Russian military intelligence officers, of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile. U.S. officials said that they saw this as possibly the most likely cause of the disaster.Russian President Vladimir Putin – accused by the West of backing the rebels in Ukraine – blamed Kiev for renewing its offensive against rebels two weeks ago after a ceasefire failed to hold. The Kremlin leader called it a “tragedy” but did not say who he thought had brought the Boeing 777 down.He also called for a “thorough and unbiased” investigation and for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to allow for negotiations.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who had stepped up an offensive in the east this month, spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama and sought to rally world opinion behind his cause.”The external aggression against Ukraine is not just our problem but a threat to European and global security,” he said.Russia, which Western powers accuse of trying to destabilise Ukraine to maintain influence over its old Soviet empire, has accused Kiev’s leaders of mounting a fascist coup. It says it is holding troops in readiness to protect Russian-speakers in the east – the same rationale it used for taking over Crimea.News of the disaster came as Obama was on the phone with Putin, discussing a new round of economic sanctions that Washington and its allies have imposed to try to force Putin to do more to curb the revolt against the new government in Kiev.Obama warned of further sanctions if Moscow did not change course in Ukraine, the White House said.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.Separatists were quoted in Russian media last month saying they had acquired a long-range SA-11 anti-aircraft system.(Additional reporting by Natalya Zinets, Pavel Polityuk, Peter Graff and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev, Tim Heritage, Vladimir Soldatkin, Polina Devitt, Thomas Grove and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam, Anuradha Raghu, Siva Govindasamy and Trinna Leong in Kuala Lumpur, Jane Wardell and Matt Siegel in Sydney and Phil Stewart, Warren Strobel, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Will Waterman and Alastair Macdonald)
U.S., German views on spying differ but still firm allies: Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during a news conference in Berlin, July 18, 2014. REUTERS/Thomas …Related StoriesBERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Germany and the United States had differing views on data protection after new allegations of U.S. spying emerged this month but added that the partnership with America was nonetheless very important.”We have different opinions on an area of cooperation between our services and also on the issue of security and protection of personal data, but that doesn’t change the fact that the U.S. is our most important ally,” she said at a news conference in Berlin.(Reporting by Stephen Brown and Annika Breidthardt; Writing by Michelle Martin)
