Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has declared a day of mourning for those killed in the deadliest attack on national troops since the pro-Russian uprising began in the country's south and east.

Unofficial reports suggest 49 people -- 40 troops and nine crew members -- perished when a Ukrainian army transport aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile overnight as it approached Luhansk airport, where heavily armed separatists control much of the area.

Poroshenko says in his statement that the day of mourning, June 15, marks "a great loss not only for the families of the victims but also for the whole country. Ukraine is in sorrow, but we strongly continue the struggle for peace."

The apparent escalation in fighting comes after weeks of images of Russian gunmen crossing the border and amid fresh allegations by the United States that "separatists in eastern Ukraine have acquired heavy weapons and military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers."

"All those involved in the cynical terrorist attack of such magnitude must be punished," says the statement by Poroshenko, who vowed after his election in May and again at his June 7 inauguration that talks in the separatist east and with Moscow were a priority. "Ukraine needs peace. Counterterrorism receives an adequate response."

Still no confirmation of separatists' claim that they shot down a Ukrainian bomber after it hit a target in the rebel-held town of Horlivka, in the Donetsk region.

A spokeswoman for the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic" has told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that the separatist group is responsible for today's downing of a Ukrainian military transport plane that killed all 49 people aboard.

"Our militia shot down the plane," said Oksana Chigrina. "The plane violated the order by [LNR governor, Valeriy] Bolotov to close the airspace over Luhansk. The order stated that if there was a violation, appropriate measures would be taken."

The Luhansk People's Republic is listed by the Ukrainian government as a terrorist organization.
Borys Filatov, the deputy speaker of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, said on Facebook that passengers on the IL-76 transport plane included a nine-member flight crew from Zaporozhets oblast and 40 soldiers -- 32 from Dnipropetrovsk region, two from Donetsk, and the remaining six from Kherson, Odesa, Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Kirovograd. The soldiers were believed to be paratroopers from the 25th division of the Dnipropetrovsk air transport brigade.

"Five grenades and a kilogram of metal nuts...It was a really powerful device." A piece of paper on a fence nearby read: "If you don't stop the war - the war will come to you."

Residents tell some hungover guy passed out in their frontyard who appears to have lost his pistol to scram and get back to "liberating Donbas" from the "fascists."

The commander of Ukraine's "Donbas" battalion, a volunteer militia group formed to fight Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, says the death of 49 servicemen in Luhansk will not go unanswered.

Writing on Facebook, Semyon Semenchenko added, according to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, "We won't forget. We won't forgive. Heroes don't die."

Semenchenko went on to blame Ukrainian military leaders for today's early-morning attack, in which pro-Russian separatists from the Luhansk People's Republic used portable rocket launchers to shoot down the plane as it passed over Luhansk. Everyone on board was killed; the burned-out hull of the plane remains surrounded by armed separatists.

"Indirect responsibility for the death of 49 paratroopers is held by the leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They could not have been unaware that terrorists armed with tanks and an open border would also have MANPADS" -- portable rocket launchers -- "at their disposal. Where was military intelligence looking? Do we even have military intelligence? Where's the analysis of the situation, where's the risk assessment, and who's next?"