This video from AFP purports to show webcam video of an anti-aircraft weapon streaking to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Moments later an explosion was seen in the night sky. CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
There was nothing for several seconds and then a very large explosion, the crash of a military transport with 49 aboard. There were no survivors. There is almost nothing left of the Ilyushin-76 Ukrainian military transport plane. It crashed into this field in the early hours of Saturday morning after coming under anti-aircraft fire on approach to Luhansk airport. Fighters confirmed they had shot down the jet, and said that all military airplanes in the area are targets.

A platoon of pro-Russian militia scoured the wreckage for any ammunition they could salvage, ammunition that was intended for government forces. There’s a lot of debris but no sign of those who were killed. It does seem that the Ukrainian armed forces have been in to retrieve the dead. The 49 killed are a big blow for the Ukrainian armed forces and a big blow for Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, who summoned his security chiefs for consultations in Kiev.

There would be an “adequate” response, Poroshenko promised, but gave no details of how his forces would retaliate. Pressure is mounting on the new president to end the conflict in the east, but the militia here holds most of the city, and seems in no mood to end its fight.

Ukraine crisis: Separatists shoot down transport plane

This video from AFP purports to show webcam video of an anti-aircraft weapon streaking to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Moments later an explosion was seen in the night sky. CCTV's Kate Parkinson reports from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

With no signs of an end to the crisis in Ukraine, the future is both uncertain and frightening. Ivan Eland is the Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute. Before that he worked for Congress for 15 years on national security issues.

Ivan Eland talks on Ukraine

With no signs of an end to the crisis in Ukraine, the future is both uncertain and frightening. Ivan Eland is the Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute. Before that he worked for Congress for 15 years on national security issues.