Two Ukrainian military jets shot down over East
Ukraine says pro-Russia forces have shot down two of Kiev's jet fighters in the country’s restive east, where government forces are holding military operations against the pro-Russians.
Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said two Sukhoi Su-25 Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down on Wednesday.
Pro-Russia forces confirmed in a video posted online the downing of the two Ukrainian jets. The uploaded video allegedly shows the aftermath and wreckage of one of the destroyed planes.
This is while Ukrainian representatives provided contradictory information on where the jets were downed.
Dmytrashkivsky said the jets were downed some 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the crash site of the Malaysian flight MH17 and the fate of the two pilots was unknown.
However, another Ukrainian military spokesman said the aircraft had been hit south of the Lugansk region and that the two pilots had managed to parachute out.
The downing of the two jets comes just days after MH17 was reportedly shot down over Ukraine’s volatile Donetsk region while en route from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All the 298 passengers and crew on board were killed.
Ukraine and Western powers accuse pro-Russia forces of downing the passenger plane by firing a surface-to-air missile at the aircraft.
Pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine have denied the accusation and blamed Kiev for shooting down the plane. Some witnesses say they saw the passenger plane being attacked by a Ukrainian army plane.
Ukraine launched military operations in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in mid-April to crush the pro-Russia protests there.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the ongoing military campaign in the country. Tens of thousands have been forced to escape to Russia, while over 4.5 million people remain in the conflict zone, according to a UN report.
CAH/AB/SS
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/23/372497/two-ukrainian-military-jets-shot-down/