Two Ukrainian Military Fighter Jets Shot Down in Rebel Held Area in East of country
-Just Days after MH17 Disaster
- Sukhoi-25 fighters shot down over area called Savur Mogila in east Ukraine
- Defense Ministry says planes were likely carrying two crew members each
- Attack comes less than a week after flight MH17 was blown out of the sky
- 298 civilians were killed when surface to air missile struck their Boeing 777
- That attack is blamed on pro-Russian rebels using a BUK missile launcher
Daily Mail UK, 23 July 2014
Ukraine's defence ministry says two of its military fighter jets have been shot down in the east of the country.
The attack comes less than a week after 298 civilians were killed when a surface to air missile blew Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 out of the sky.
That attack has been blamed on pro-Russian rebels based in the east of Ukraine, but they have denied having any involvement in the disaster.
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Debris: Pieces of one of the two military planes shot down by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine this morning are seen falling to the ground over the village of Stepanovka
Shocking Footage of the 2 Ukrainian Military Fighter Jets' Debris
The two Sukhoi-25 fighters were shot down 1:30 p.m. local time today over a rebel-held area called Savur Mogila.
Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky says the planes may have been carrying up to two crew members each.
The area in which the attack took place is around 20 miles south of the village of Hrabove - where the majority of the wreckage from MH17 is scattered.
It is also only around five miles south of the towns of Snizhne and Torez, where photographs and videos posted online appear to show mobile BUK missile launchers stationed early last week.
The images are not clear enough to tell whether they show the same launcher in both towns, but they have led experts to believe the missile that took down MH17 was fired from somewhere in the area.
Similarities: The fighter jet attack comes less than a week after 298 civilians were killed when a surface to air missile blew Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 out of the sky (pictured)
Some passports of the deceased
The radar route of Malaysian Airlines plane MH17
News of the two fighter jets being shot down comes as the first bodies of those killed in the MH17 massacre left Ukraine on a cargo plane that will transport them to the Netherlands.
The remains of around 200 international victims of the Malaysia Airlines tragedy have already been moved by train from the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine to government-controlled Kharkiv.
The bodies are now being flown to Eindhoven to carry out an identification process which could take months.
There is concern however, that as many as 95 victims - one third of the total number of passengers on board MH17 - may still be missing.
Dutch officials counted only 200 bodies on the morgue train on which rebels claim they placed 282 corpses and 87 body parts from a further 16 people.
VIDEO:
Shocking Footage of the 2 Ukrainian Military Fighter Jets' Debris
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