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U.S. official: U.S. government doesn't think Ukraine has air defenses in region where plane was shot down
By CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper
(CNN) – A U.S. official tells CNN that the administration does not think the government of Ukraine has air defenses in the region where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down and crashed, though Ukraine may have those air defenses in other parts of the country.
That leads the administration to conclude that Ukraine did not have the capability, let alone the motivation, to shoot down the plane.
FULL POST
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Ukraine: We intercepted calls between terrorists talking about shooting down the plane
(CNN) – A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in a rebel-controlled area of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, prompting swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that "terrorists" shot down the aircraft.
"We intercepted a number of phone calls between the terrorists talking about shutting down the plane now," Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin said in an interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
FULL POST
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Did surface-to-air missile take down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17?
(CNN) - Early speculation about the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has centered on the possibility it could have been shot down as it passed over volatile eastern Ukraine.
After all, Ukrainian officials say pro-Russia separatists, or possibly Russia, were behind the shooting down of two Ukrainian aircraft in recent days.
A Ukrainian official also told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Thursday that separatists claimed to have brought down another plane around the same time Flight 17 went missing.
world lead
U.S. official: Malaysia Airlines plane shot down
(CNN) – The United States has concluded the Malaysian airline was shot down, a senior U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr. One radar system saw a surface-to-air missile system turn on and track an aircraft right before the plane went down Thursday, according to the official. A second system saw a heat signature at the time the airliner was hit, the official said. The United States is analyzing the trajectory of the missile to try to learn where the attack came from.
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Malaysian PM: We cannot verify cause of crash
(CNN) – A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
"We must and we will find out precisely what happened to this flight. No stone will be left unturned," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters. He called for an international team to have full access to the crash site. "If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice," he said.
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