Update 19 July:
Dutch PM just held a new press conference about his call to Putin today that he expects Putin to use his power on the rebels to call them to order and allow the investigation and recovery of bodies to start. He literally said Putin needs to take responsibility and that he's making himself/Russia more suspicious with everything he does. I never expected language this firm from Rutte
Source: http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/buite...17#node_965071
Malaysia plane crashes in Ukraine; possibly shot down
Malaysian passenger plane crashes in Ukraine near Russian border
Quote:
A Malaysian passenger airliner with 295 people on board crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, Interfax cited an aviation industry source as saying on Thursday.
It said the Boeing plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Reuters could not immediately confirm the Interfax report.
Also on Thursday, a military spokesman said a Russian jet shot down a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter plane that was on military operations over the east of Ukraine, where government forces are fighting to quell a pro-Russian separatist rebellion.
The plane was brought down on Wednesday night by a rocket strike and the pilot safely ejected, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's national Defense and Security Council, told journalists.
Later on Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry denied it had shot down a Ukrainian airplane and called the accusation by Kiev "absurd", Russian state news agency RIA reported.
"It is absurd, just like all the previous accusations from Kiev's leadership against Russia's Defense Ministry," a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying.
Turning to U.S. sanctions, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said new sanctions imposed on Moscow by the United States and the European Union showed Russian attempts to split Washington and Brussels were not working.
Speaking to his government, Yatseniuk also told Russia to stop supplying weapons to rebels in eastern Ukraine, who have been forced to retreat into the region's two main cities after Kiev stepped up what it calls its "anti-terrorist operation".
"All attempts by Russia to split the European Union, and to stop the European Union and the United States from agreeing, were doomed to failure," he said, accusing Moscow of sending dozens of tanks, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles and agents into eastern Ukraine.
"Enough Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin). It's time to end the war, to stop support for the bandits and separatists, and the creation of Great Russia at Ukraine's expense."
"The Russian leadership got carried away with the idea of Russian nationalism and decided that Ukraine could be a theater of war in order to support the popularity ratings of the Russian government and leadership."
