| > The official is claiming that separatists shot down the plane from 30,000 feet? Do the separatists own the technology to do that? Well, "own" is a legal question, but they are reported to at least posess such equipment -- specifically, they claim to have captured Buk missiles [0], which could easily engage at this range. > What do they have to gain from shooting down a passenger plane? Making civilian traffic air traffic through (and thus, both to and from) Ukraine unsafe would increase economic pressure on the regime to reach a satisfactory accommodation with the separatists. Alternatively, the separatists could have mistaken the flight for a military one, and they have shot down military flights recently (also at altitudes that MANPAD systems wouldn't reach) [1]. Of course, "separatists" aren't the only people who may be shooting down planes in Ukrainian territory these days. [2] [0] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/malaysia-airlin... "But the Donetsk People's Republic said in June its forces had captured Buk missiles from a Ukrainian military base, Itar-Tass news agency reported. The Buk missile has a range of 18,000 metres, according to some accounts." [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/europe/ukrainian-mil... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/europe/ukraine-says-... |