Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russian rebels down military plane, killing 49

Attack comes hours before top Moscow, Kiev officials to meet for gas negotiations.

LUGANSK:

Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine shot down a military plane, killing 49 government troops in what is the deadliest attack against federal forces in the two-month insurgency.

The attack came hours before top Moscow and Kiev officials were to meet in Kiev for 11th-hour gas negotiations aimed at averting an imminent cut in Russian supplies that would also affect large swathes of Europe.

The United States accused Russia of helping the insurgency by sending tanks and rocket launchers to the pro-Moscow rebels – a charge the Kremlin denied.

A Lugansk rebel commander who showed pieces of the Il-76 transporter’s charred debris in a wheat field a dozen kilometres outside the airport said five militants shot down the plane using machine guns.

The tall and bulky commander, referred to by his unit as Mudzhakhed (Sacred Fighter), brandished a Kalashnikov rifle while listing the mostly Russian-speaking region’s grievances against the new more nationalist leaders in Kiev.

“They brought machine guns and ammunition,” Mudzhakhed said. “We do not like people telling us what to do.”

He said that the plane tried to dump fuel after the rebels hit its engines. The heavy transporter crashed on its second landing approach.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signalled an imminent intensification of the offensive he had pledged to end just days after his May 25 election. He vowed to deal the rebels ‘an adequate response’. And an irate mob of about 300 in Kiev overturned several cars before tearing down the Russian embassy flag while a dozen city police officers looked on without interfering.

Federal forces suffered still more casualties on Saturday when three border guards were killed and four wounded after being ambushed in Mariupol – captured with great fanfare by federal forces the day before.

Just before the transport plane was shot down, an AFP correspondent in Lugansk heard heavy fighting and a series of loud explosions.

“They were flying here to kill people,” a pro-Russian man named Roman said outside the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic. “They knew where they were flying and they were warned. We are the people of Lugansk. Ukraine does not exist anymore.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2014.