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Separatists in Ukraine Shoot Down Military Plane, Killing 49 Separatists Down Military Transport Jet, Killing 49 in Eastern Ukraine
(about 7 hours later)
DONETSK, Ukraine — Forty-nine people, mostly Ukrainian military personnel, were killed Saturday when separatists shot down a military transport jet as it was landing in the eastern city of Luhansk, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office. The death toll was the largest in a single incident for the Ukrainian military since the recent unrest began in the country’s east. DONETSK, Ukraine — Separatists in Ukraine used a shoulder-fired missile to shoot down a large Ukrainian military transport jet as it was trying to land at an airport in the eastern city of Luhansk on Saturday, killing all 49 people on board, the military said. The attack was the deadliest single episode for the Ukrainian military since the unrest began in the country’s east.
“On approach to the Luhansk airport a Ukrainian armed forces military transport Il-76 airplane was shot down with an antiaircraft rocket system,” the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement. “In addition to the nine crew members, 40 military personnel were on board. All of them died.” “On approach to the Luhansk airport a Ukrainian armed forces military transport Il-76 airplane was shot down with an antiaircraft rocket system,” the military wing of the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement. “In addition to the nine crew members, 40 paratroopers were on board. All of them died.”
The statement said the office had opened an investigation into what it called a terrorist act. The statement said the office had opened an investigation into what it called a terrorist act. Separatists from the self-declared People’s Republic of Luhansk confirmed that they had shot down the jet and said that all military airplanes in the area, which is near the border with Russia, were targets.
Video of the incident showed an explosion near the surface of the landing strip where the plane was said to be making its final approach into Luhansk. It was carrying troops being rotated into eastern Ukraine, military equipment and food, the ministry of defense said in a statement. The defense ministry gave no details of the casualties, but offered “sincere condolences to the parents, the relatives and loved ones of the soldiers in connection with this tragic and irreparable loss.” A surveillance video that captured the plane’s destruction showed a streak of light rising from the ground, then an explosion near the airport where the plane was making its final approach into Luhansk.
An online post by a group called Information Support, which often conveys news from Ukraine’s armed forces in more detail than official statements do, said Ukrainian soldiers at the scene had found empty firing tubes for two shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, and a third missile that had been activated but failed to fire. It was carrying troops being rotated into eastern Ukraine, military equipment and food, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The ministry gave no details about the casualties but offered “sincere condolences to the parents, the relatives and loved ones of the soldiers in connection with this tragic and irreparable loss.”
The post said the missiles were Igla, or “needle,” Russian-made antiaircraft missiles, of a type that separatists have shown to journalists in recent weeks. Pro-Russian groups say they obtained them from Ukrainian military bases. An online post by a group called Information Support, which often conveys news from Ukraine’s armed forces in more detail than official statements do, said Ukrainian soldiers at the scene had found empty firing tubes for two shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles and a third missile that failed to fire.
Since the unrest in the east began, separatists have claimed to have shot down several Ukrainian attack helicopters, first saying that they used rocket-propelled grenades but later admitting to possessing guided missiles. Rebels shot down a Ukrainian An-30 surveillance plane over Slovyansk on June 6. The post said the missiles were Iglas, or “needles,” Russian-made antiaircraft rockets of a type that separatists have shown to journalists in recent weeks. Pro-Russian groups say they obtained them from Ukrainian military bases.
The Ilyushin jet was making its approach into a contested area. The Ukrainian Army controls the airport, but separatists hold the town of Luhansk, which is important for patrolling the border with Russia.
The State Department said Friday that Russia had sent tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in Ukraine across that border, supporting accusations made by the Ukrainian government on Thursday.
A convoy of three T-64 tanks, several BM-21 multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles crossed the border near the Ukrainian town of Snizhne, State Department officials said. The Ukrainian Army reported Friday that it had destroyed two of the tanks and several other vehicles in the convoy.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian news media posted a surveillance video from Luhansk showing a column of military trucks moving through the city that were said to have also crossed from Russia overnight. The clashes and the reports about the movement of weaponry from Russia threaten to undermine cease-fire talks that began last week, after Ukraine’s new president, Petro O. Poroshenko, was sworn in.
Since the unrest in the east began, separatists have claimed that they have shot down several Ukrainian helicopters, first saying they used rocket-propelled grenades but later admitting to possessing guided missiles. A general was among 14 people killed when rebels hit a Mi-8 transport helicopter on May 29.
Rebels also claim to have shot down a Ukrainian AN-30 surveillance plane near Slovyansk on June 6, killing three people.
The June 6 episode was of particular concern because it involved the destruction of one of the two planes that Ukraine used to monitor the “Open Skies” treaty. That accord allows the countries that have signed it, including Ukraine and Russia, to conduct observation flights to make sure that participants are not conducting destabilizing troop movements.
But Western officials say that the AN-30 aircraft was not on an “Open Skies” mission when it crashed. A video showing the plane crashing to the ground has been posted on YouTube.
“We understand the lost aircraft was one of Ukraine’s Open Skies Treaty aircraft, although it was not conducting a treaty mission at the time,” a State Department official said. “Throughout the crisis in Ukraine, the Open Skies Treaty has served as an important tool to provide transparency to the United States and Ukraine, as well as our allies and partners. Many treaty partners have been involved in Open Skies flights over Ukraine and Western Russia since March.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian news media reported that presidential security officers found and defused a cellphone-triggered bomb in Kiev near the building housing the offices of the presidential administration, along a route traveled by Mr. Poroshenko.
In the port town of Mariupol, where the Ukrainian military seized control of administrative buildings on Friday, two border guards were killed and an unspecified number of others were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. And in the town of Horlivka, east of Donetsk, the Ukrainian Army carried out an airstrike on a police building occupied by separatists.