Ukraine-Russia Row Over Who 'Shot Down' Plane

Moscow has hit back after the Kiev government claimed pro-Russian separatists shot down a passenger plane, killing all 298 people on board, including 173 Dutch and nine Britons.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur at an altitude of 33,000ft (10,000m) when contact was lost on Thursday afternoon in eastern Ukraine close to the border with Russia.
It came down near the village of Grabovo, Donetsk in an area where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the rebels.
An adviser to Kiev's interior ministry said the Boeing 777 was hit by a Buk ground-to-air missile and its president Petro Poroshenko called it an "act of terrorism".
But the Russian defence ministry reportedly pointed the finger at its neighbour, saying it picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian Buk missile system south of Donetsk when the airliner came down.
Sky's Katie Stallard said: "That doesn't correlate with the geography. This was a plane flying over territory that the Ukrainian government would perceive as friendly. Territory that they control.
"It is a slightly counterintuitive suggestion that they would perceive that aircraft as a threat when it is heading away from their friendly airspace and towards the Russian border."
Separatist leader Alexander Borodai said Ukrainian government forces were responsible, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "The state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility."
However, a US official said Washington strongly suspected it was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired by rebels.
And the Ukrainian security council said no missiles had been fired from the armouries of its armed forces.

Among the British victims were 49-year-old Glenn Thomas , a media officer at the World Health Organisation, who was described as a "wonderful person and a great professional".

Two Newcastle United fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney, who were travelling to see their football team play in New Zealand, also died, according to reports.
The cockpit and one of the turbines were over half a mile apart, and residents said the tail was six miles away, indicating the aircraft most likely broke up before hitting the ground.
Many of the bodies strewn across the fields were largely intact – some of them were still strapped into their plane seats. People who live in the area have described seeing bodies falling through the sky.
Pro-Russian separatists said they found one of the "black box" recorders and rescue workers have recovered a second flight recorder.

Malaysian plane MH17 'shot down' with 295 on board

A passenger plane with 295 people on board has been shot down over eastern Ukraine.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 10km (6.2 miles) when it was shot down, Russia's Interfax reported.

The Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry quoted by the news agency said.

MH17 was shot down as it flew through or near airspace deemed unsuitable for passenger jets, according to media reports (Reuters)

There were 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. Among the victims were three infants. Britain has joined the US and other countries in calling for an international probe into the disaster. US President Barack Obama has said it should be "prompt, full, credible and unimpeded".
US Vice-President Joe Biden said the jet appeared to have been deliberately "blown out of the sky".
Stallard said Igor Strelkov, the commander of the pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic, appeared to have boasted about the incident on social media.
In one deleted message recovered by Sky News, he allegedly wrote: "We warned you not to fly over our sky."
Ukraine's security service also released what it claimed was a recording of an intercepted phone call between two Russian military intelligence officers, discussing the downing of the plane.
Malaysia Airlines, still reeling from the loss of flight MH370, has said the route taken by flight MH17 had been declared safe by civil aviation authorities.

:: Malaysia Airlines has set up an emergency line for worried relatives: 00 6 037 884 1234.