The Ukrainian state intelligence agency has released what it says are intercepted phone calls between the country’s separatist rebels and Russian military intelligence agents, implicating the rebels in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 last night.
The state security agency, known as the SBU, released an edited version of audio tapes between separatist rebels and members of Russian military intelligence, reports the Huffington Post.
In once segment of the released audio, the SBU identified two of the callers speaking to one another as rebel commander Igor Bezler and Russian intelligence officer Vasili Geranin. HuffPost has not been able to verify the identity of the individuals conversing in the audio file.
The man purported to be Bezler said in the audio recording, “Just now, just now, a plane has been shot down.”
A later portion of the audio recording includes details of where the downed aircraft crashed (Grabovo, Ukraine) and that speaker was “100% certain” that the aircraft shot down was a civilian jetliner. Subsequent questioning indicates that the shooters were expecting to intercept a military or likewise hostile aircraft, as the speakers were surprised to note the lack of weapons in the debris.
The final portion of the released audio seemingly confirms that the aircraft shot down was a Malaysia Airlines jetliner, and that the bodies from the crashed aircraft were of civilians. A man identified only as “Militant” describes the crash site in Grabovo as containing “a whole lot of bodies of women and children”.
At the end of the audio file, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner was dismissed as having harboured spies, as it was flying over a warzone.
Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed late last night over Ukraine, with debris landing near the town of Grabovo. The Boeing 777 jetliner was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stated at a press conference in KLIA this morning that the Ukrainian government believes Flight MH17 was shot down.
Folliwng the crash, Malaysia Airlines has announced it would reroute all its flights to and from Europe to avoid Ukrainian airspace, with immediate effect.
See Also:
Reports: Malaysian airliner crashes in Ukraine
Ukraine minister: Malaysia Air flight MH17 shot down
Reuters: “Burning wreckage, dozens of bodies” at MH17 crash site in Ukraine
Alleged images of Flight MH17 crash site emerge on social media
Reader Interactions