Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army transport plane with an anti-aircraft missile as it came in to land early yesterday in the eastern city of Luhansk, killing all 49 military personnel on board.
The toll is the highest suffered by government forces in a single incident since they launched a military operation to halt the rebellion in east Ukraine against the country’s pro-European leaders in Kiev and to try to prevent the country splitting up.
The Defence Ministry said in a statement the Il-76 plane was shot down in a “cynical” attack by rebels using an anti-aircraft weapon and a heavy-caliber machine gun. The Prosecutor General’s office said nine crew and 40 paratroopers had been killed and that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile at 1:10 a.m. (2210 GMT on Friday).
The Luhansk region is at the heart of the rebellion launched in April by separatists who want Russia to absorb the Russian-speaking east following the annexation of Crimea in March.
Government forces control Luhansk airport but local media said fighting was under way yesterday in the city, control of which is important for patrolling the nearby border with Russia.
The rebels also said the Ukrainian air force had fired on the industrial town of Horlivka, just north of region’s main city, Donetsk.
Rebels also shot down a military cargo plane last week, killing three people, and a general was among 14 killed when they hit an Mi-8 transport helicopter on May 29.
Scores of rebels, civilians and soldiers have been killed in the violence since April and more than 100 protesters, most of them seeking closer ties with the West, were killed in clashes with police in February which led to the fall of Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning president.
