Pro-Russian terrorists attempting to overthrow the Ukrainian government have shot down a Malaysian Airlines flight that was flying over the Donetsk region of the country.
The flight, MH17, was headed to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam according to airline officials. The plane was flying at 33,000 feet when it was shot down using a Russian made ground-to-air missile system.
The Australian government reported many on the plane were researchers and scientists on their way to a United Nations conference on AIDS in Melbourne. At least three infants are among the dead and the passenger manifest shows a number of Americans on the flight.
Witnesses say they saw a missile approaching the plane and that the plane split in two after the impact. The debris field from the flight covered over nine miles with large pieces untouched by fire; leading aviation experts to say the plane broke up mid-flight.
The terrorists in the region are trying to blame the incident on the Ukrainian government, however a posting online earlier in the day from Igor Strelkov, commander of the pro-Russian terrorists, read “we warned you not to fly over our sky.”
The posting was removed after it was reported in major media a passenger plane was shot down rather than a Ukrainian military or transport flight.
Jews inside Ukraine have formed their own combat units because the government has been unable to protect them from anti-Semitic attacks by pro-Russian terrorists.
The men have either served in the Ukranian or Israeli armies or have martial arts skills the teams founder, Tzvi Arieli, told the Jerusalem Post.
Arieli told the Post that the only weapons the force has are baseball bats that were provided by an American donor whose family originated in Kiev.
“We are trying to raise funds for bullet-proof vests which would greatly increase safety if the situation escalates,” Arieli said. Arieli is a former special forces soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces.
The force was created at the request of the chief rabbi of Ukraine in response to a lack of government support against anti-Semitic attacks. The attacks have been increasing since the removal of former president Viktor Yanukovych.
In an action that reminded many of the actions of Nazis in Germany, a militant Russian group in eastern Ukraine has told Jewish residents they need to register or they will be stripped of citizenship and their possessions taken from them.
The Ukraine government has been fighting separatists in the region who have been supported and guided by Russian Special Forces.
“Someone tried to use the Jewish community as an instrument of this conflict,” Chief Rabbi Pinchas Vyshedski told reporters. Rabbi Vyshedski has called for the government to provide additional security to Jewish synagogues and facilities in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that leaflets containing the demand for registration were dropped in Jewish areas. He attributed the fliers to Denis Pushilin of the Donetsk People’s Republic group. Kerry called the anti-Semitism “intolerable” and “grotesque.”
The documents were also reportedly handed to Jews as they approached synagogues for Passover events. The men reportedly were wearing camouflage gear and face coverings.
Despite asserting that they would not be invading any other parts of Ukraine, Russia has massed over 100,000 troops on the country’s border.
Andriy Parubiy, the chairman of the Ukraine National Security Council, said during a webcast that Russia has stationed large amounts of troops along the northern, western and southern borders of the country.
“We might see a huge attack on the territory of continental Ukraine [any day] and we are getting ready for it,” Parubiy said.
Intelligence officials say that Russia is working behind the scenes to try and stir up dissent throughout the rest of the country as an excuse to invade the rest of the nation.
U.S. lawmakers are being cautious about the situation, with one Representative noting that Russia has sent a large amount of armored vehicles and aircraft to the border.
A war in Ukraine could bring massive problems to the world oil markets and Europe, which is heavily dependent on natural gas from Russia.
Russian leaders told foreign press Monday that Chinese leaders are largely in agreement with the Russian invasion of part of Ukraine.
Russian troops have now surrounded military bases in Crimea and are preventing Ukrainian soldiers from being able to move anywhere within that area as Russian forces reinforce their positions.
Russian forces have also taken control of a port in the city of Kerch on the eastern edge of Crimea. The Crimean peninsula has a large Russian speaking population and the Russian leadership says their forces are there to protect those people.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News that we’re in the midst of the most serious crisis that Europe has faced in the 21st century. The news of the invasion and the possibility of impending war have created a major impact on world markets, with Russia’s stock market down 10 percent.
The seven members of the G8 with Russia have called on Russia to respect the sovereignty of the Ukraine and called on them to remove themselves from Ukrainian territory.
The former President of the Ukraine is on the run after being removed from power and charged with mass murder in connection with the deaths of protesters.
Victor Yanukovich was removed by the country’s Parliament over the weekend and immediately went into hiding while declaring he was still the nation’s leader and experiencing a coup d’état.
The parliament called for a new Presidential election on May 25th and appointed an interim president who immediately issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovich for mass murder. In the weeks leading to the Yanukovich’s removal, the government had been stepping up violent actions against protesters including more than two dozen deaths.
Prosecutors say the killings came at the order of Yanukovich who ordered all the protest camps destroyed and crowd forcibly removed from downtown Kiev.
The removal of Yanukovich is drawing the ire of Russian leaders who have lost a key ally in the region. The new government, and the leaders of the opposition who lead the protests, have been calling for the Ukraine to join the European Union. The protests began when Yanukovich withdrew from a tentative agreement with the EU in favor of close ties with Russia.
Civil war in the Ukraine continues to grow likely after another short-lived truce between the country’s President and opposition leaders fell apart Thursday morning.
At least 100 protesters are dead and over 500 injured when police and military troops attacked protest camps in the capital city of Kiev. The deaths come after a hastily called cease-fire by government leaders after worldwide outcry over the killings of 28 protesters on Tuesday.
Ukrainian government officials say 25 police or military members have been injured or killed during the protests since Tuesday.
Hospital officials say that obviously professional and highly skilled snipers killed many of the protesters. They say the wounds were directly to the heart, head or at the base of the neck where there was no chance to save their lives.
Officials with the European Union are beginning to pressure Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych to call for early elections as a way to placate the opposition leadership and protesters. Russia, a close ally of Yanukovych, immediately denounced EU nations for the call, saying they are trying to force the country to align with western interests.
A cold spell covering the Ukraine has killed 83 people already this year putting the death toll in reach of surpassing all of last year’s deaths. One hundred people died during last winter in total.
Temperatures as low as -10F and heavy snowfall have left Kiev and other areas under frozen blankets of snow and ice. Meteorologists are reporting that the temperatures could fall even lower and raise the death toll. Continue reading →