[Augustinian monk]

If it was shot down at 33k feet, I think I could figure which side pulled that off. No rag tag rebels for sure.

[j_guru]

claim is that shots came from the Russian side of the border.

[VanDeKoik]

But why would the Russians shoot down a commercial airliner that was flying a pre-planned route? With the S. Korea flight, you can easily just cite stupid communists paranoid that they are be spied on because they saw an airline that “strayed” in their airspace.

But this? That must be one damn stupid pilot, or Putin must really be willing to push it past the breaking point.

[Tommyjo]

The rebels do have access to such systems and the personnel having or previous training. They have been boasting for weeks now of having captured SA-11 BUK. It looks like a tragic scenario where the rebels have used the SA-11s

'DONETSK, June 29, /ITAR-TASS/. Self-defence forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic have taken control over a missile defence army unit equipped with Buk missile defence systems, the press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic told Itar-Tass on Sunday. So far, no details are available about the number and condition of the missile systems taken over by the self-defence forces. The press service refused to comment.The Buk missile defence system is a mobile medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend field troops and logistics installations against air threats in conditions of heavy electronic countermeasures and intense enemy fire.' http://en.itar-tass.com/world/738262