It would appear that Malaysian airlines flight MH17 may have been shot down by pro Russian separatists. And reportedly admitting it.
Igor Strelkov, the military commander of pro-Russian rebels Donetsky People’s Army, has reportedly admitted that he ordered the missile strike against the Malaysian jet, according to the Kyiv Post.
Obviously he hasn’t bothered to read up on the Geneva convention.
Before 1949 the Geneva Conventions protected wounded, sick, shipwrecked and captured combatants. The “civilians’ convention” recognized the changing nature of warfare and established legal protection for any person not belonging to armed forces or armed groups. The protection also included civilian property. Such protection was later reinforced with the adoption of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention in 1977.
Ukraine Reporter @StateOfUkraine
#Russian cmdr Strelkov commented on downed #MH17 (thinking it was Ukrainian): "We warned - do not fly in our skies" pic.twitter.com/hkXoaD3xvT
Bastard should be strung up if that’s true.
Anyone able to translate the above into English?
The plane was allegedly flying at 10km, too high for any of the separatists' weapons to reach it. But the Ukranian army do have suitable SAMs, so, despite Strelkov's claims, it's unlikely the separatists did the foul deed - more likely some half-trained Ukranian soldier was trigger-happy.
ReplyDeleteFind translation here;
ReplyDeletehttp://s105.photobucket.com/user/cpav11/media/vk1_zps1b8448da.gif.html
Also updated info on pilots forum;
pprune; http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/543733-mh17-down-near-donetsk-6.html
It was also reported that the separatists have captured some of the appropriate missile kit so could have done it. Frankly, the Twatter stuff looks pretty much like an admission of guilt to me. I notice they removed it pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteThere are always wierd claims of responsibility (or not) after every outrage, so I'm not convinced by the Twitterings. Russia Today now have a strong claim about Ukrainian SAM rader operating in the area, linked to a BUK missile launcher. I smell the cold dead hand of the CIA behind this atrocity.
DeleteYup, America says jump, EUSSR says 'how high?'. I keep saying; why poke the bear unless you WANT a fight? Do our leaders want that?
DeleteIt's a very fishy story. According to this, the flight was cancelled:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flightradar24.com/flight/mh17
The separatists don't have BUKs. They couldn't have borrowed one - it takes a month to learn how to use: “After the passenger airliner was downed, the military reported to the president that terrorists do not have our air defense missile systems Buk and S-300,” (quoted by Itar-Tass).
Where did they find all those pristine passports? Did they rifle thru the dead passengers pockets?