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SEPANG, Malaysia: Airport police stand guard at the arrival hall at Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday. — AP Malaysian jet crashes in Ukraine All 295 on board feared dead • Kiev blames rebels KIEV: A Malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam 10,000 m. He said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, direct claim of a Russian attack on Ukrainian forces, Kiev said a to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in rebel-held east Ukraine, regional which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 m. Separatist Russian airforce jet shot down a Ukrainian warplane Wednesday officials said yesterday, as Ukraine’s president said the jet may leader Andrei Purgin told AP that he was certain that Ukrainian evening - before the fresh round of Western sanctions were have been shot down. Malaysia Airlines said it had “lost contact” troops had shot the plane down but gave no explanation or proof announced - as it was carrying out its duties. with flight MH17, which Ukrainian officials said came down near for his statement. Purgin said he did not know whether rebel The pilot of the Su-25 plane managed to eject and was res- the town of Shaktarsk, in the region. Regional officials forces owned Buk missile launchers, but said even if they did, cued by Kiev forces, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence said the number of dead was “not yet known” but Russian news there had no fighters capable of operating it. A launcher similar to Council said. Russia’s defence ministry - which NATO claims has agency Itar-Tass cited an unnamed source at Ukraine’s aviation the Buk missile system was seen by AP journalists earlier yester- massed some 12,000 troops along Ukraine’s porous border - dis- authority as saying there were no survivors. Eyewitnesses quoted day near the eastern Ukrainian town of , which is held by missed the claim as “absurd”, Russian news agencies reported. by Russian news agency RIA Novosti spoke of dozens of bodies at the rebels. the crash site. The Kremlin said President and US President Sanctions Fallout Interfax also quoted the deputy prime minister of the self- Barack Obama had discussed the shocking new development in The dramatic developments on the ground came alongside a declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Andrei Purgin, as saying a crisis-torn Ukraine where fighting between pro-Russian sepa- major diplomatic fallout over fresh Western sanctions that group of rebels had arrived at scene and found “many dead”. ratists and the Western-backed government has claimed over 600 Washington and Brussels hope will force Moscow to help halt the Ukrainian President said the jet may have been lives. US stocks fell sharply following reports the plane had been conflict. Obama took a swipe at major players in Russia’s finance, shot down. “We do not exclude that the plane was shot down and shot down, while Britain’s Foreign Office said it was “working military and energy sectors in the new sanctions despite a warn- confirm that the Ukraine Armed Forces did not fire at any targets urgently to find out what’s happened.” The incident comes just ing from Putin that the measures would inflict “very serious dam- in the sky,” Poroshenko said in a statement. months after Malaysia’s Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 age” on the already tattered US-Russia relationship.In eastern The Boeing 777 aircraft was expected in the Malaysian capital with 239 on board. The plane diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Ukraine fierce fighting between government forces and pro- at around 6:00 am today (2200 GMT Thursday), Malaysia Airlines Beijing flight path and its fate remains a mystery despite a mas- Moscow rebels has intensified in recent days with some 55 civil- said. Still reeling from the disappearance of flight MH370, sive aerial and underwater search. ians killed since the weekend. The fighting forced more than a Malaysia announced on Twitter the loss of the airliner. Malaysian dozen Ukrainian border guards to flee into Russia seeking medical Prime Minister Najib Razak said on his Twitter feed he was Ukrainian Jet ‘Downed’ help with one dying from his injuries, the Russian authorities said. “shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed”. “We are launch- The crash came with tensions already soaring after Kiev Germany and France have been spearheading a push to revive ing an immediate investigation.” Ukraine’s Poroshenko expressed accused Russia of downing a Ukrainian military plane on a mis- talks between Kiev and the rebels over a potential ceasefire but his “deepest and sincerest sympathies for the families and loved sion over the east of the country. That allegation came a day after attempts to hold a Skype videoconference fell through Tuesday. ones of those killed” and vowed that “those behind this tragedy the US and EU bolstered sanctions against Russia over its per- Ukrainian forces made a string of major gains after Poroshenko will be brought to justice.” ceived support of the separatist insurgency in the ex-Soviet state. tore up an unsuccessful ceasefire earlier this month, but progress Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, Moscow condemned the punitive measures as “blackmail” and has slowed since rebels retreated into two major regional centres said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of warned of retaliatory actions against Washington. In the first where they have pledged to fight to the end. — AFP