Reuters claims to have found evidence of militia involvement in the downing of Boeing

Moscow - Kyiv, March 13 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Residents of the Red October village in the territory controlled by the militia said Riderthat they saw a missile flying overhead shortly before the Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down on July 17 last year.

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The Malaysian airliner fell on July 17 at 16.20 local time. The largest accumulation of debris was discovered near the village of Grabovo, 20 kilometers from Red October, the agency recalls. Since July last year, access to the territory where Red October is located has been difficult due to fighting, and a Reuters correspondent was only able to visit the farm in February.

On the afternoon of July 17, Valentina Kovalenko was digging potatoes in her garden in Red October, named after the 1917 revolution, writes the author of the exclusive material. “I took off, at first we thought that the plane was falling. And it’s like a rocket,” said Kovalenko, 45, who also said she then saw smoke coming from the Progress mine in Torez, a town 9,5 kilometers northwest of the village.

Her 14-year-old daughter, Anastasia, said she saw a rocket fly over the village and then a plane, which she said exploded in the sky.

Olga Krasilnikova, 30, also said she saw the rocket between 16.00 and 17.00. “I only saw it fly by, fly right over me. On the other side,” she said, pointing to the outskirts of the farm. “I (saw) smoke in the sky, and then with a bang, I saw big blue smoke.”

“My mother and I were in the yard when this happened,” said 58-year-old local resident Pyotr Fedotov. “There was a pop, such that we involuntarily simply sat down in the yard, our legs gave way. Then it became interesting and I immediately ran out behind the house to look.” “This rocket was going like this here, wobbling, then some stage separated and right there, where we have Torez on the side of Lutugino, a little to the right, you could already see when the plane was falling apart in the air. Only later did we find out that it was a Boeing,” Fedotov said.

A Buk missile can zigzag for several seconds after launch before its onboard radar locks onto a target and guides the missile toward it, videos of the launches posted online show, Reuters writes.

During the interview, Fedotov, the eyewitness who spoke about the “wobbling” missile, initially told the camera that it was fired from an area controlled by the Ukrainian army. Later, when the camera was turned off, he said the rocket had been fired from nearby militia-controlled territory. When asked why he initially said otherwise, he replied that he was afraid of the rebels. He also pointed out to a Reuters correspondent a place 1,5 kilometers from the farm where, as local farmers told him, the rocket launcher had launched.

A former fighter from the Vostok separatist battalion, who for security reasons asked to be identified only by his first name, Igor, told Reuters that the Buk was in Krasny Oktyabr on July 17, and he himself was not far from the farm. Igor said that the Buk's task was to drive away Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft that were attacking separatist positions in the area. A Buk missile was fired at Ukrainian attack aircraft half an hour before the Malaysia Airlines Boeing crashed, forcing the Ukrainian pilots to retreat, the rebel said.