Report: Well-known Ukrainian military analyst says Russia preparing invasion for July 15.
Here is the Facebook post by pro-Kyiv Ukrainian military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk to which we alluded earlier, based on the Ukrinform report. In it, he cites intelligence suggesting that regular Russian army troops (as opposed to "Russian mercenaries") are supplying weapons to the "terrorists" and says that "Thus we are talking about a full Russian military invasion of Donbas."
Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey says a Ukrainian AN-26 military transport plane had been shot down by a rocket that was "probably" fired from Russian territory. Heletey said some members of the crew have been in contact with Ukrainian military officials. There is no word on casualties.
President Poroshenko's official website says a search-and-rescue mission is under way in an effort to "deliver the crew of the plane [shot down today] to territory controlled by Ukrainian servicemen." Citing a briefing of the president by Defense Minister Heletey, the statement says the circumstances of the shootdown of the An-26 transport military plane -- including the 6,500-meter altitude of the aircraft -- makes "its damaging by MANPADS impossible. Thus, the plane was downed by another, more powerful missile weapon that probably was used from the territory of the Russian Federation."
The Interpreter says this YouTube video appears to show the shootdown, at around the 24-second mark: