Phil Breedlove is NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe. He just tweeted this:
Foreign Policy drills deeper and looks at the evidence that Russia is firing short-range rockets into Ukraine:
"Several of the videos, filmed near a pond of some sort, were apparently taken by a resident of the town. A careful perusal of Google Street View reveals that several physical features in the videos match exactly a location in the northwest corner of the town, less than two miles from the Ukrainian border. The distinctive topography of the lake, the placement of bushes and rocks, the tree line in the background, and a series of evenly spaced light poles that appear in multiple videos and in the Google maps appear to place the rocket launch inside of Russian territory. A preliminary analysis of the angles in the videos shows that there is almost no way that a Grad rocket launch from this location could miss Ukrainian territory. Yet another video, taken due south of the rocket launch, proves conclusively that these rockets were launched inside Russia and not over the border."
From our news desk:
Russia's Defense Ministry has denied that it shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet and called the accusation by Kyiv "absurd."
A spokesman for Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council, Andriy Lysenko, said the Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet was brought down on the evening of July 16 "as it fulfilled its task over the territory of Ukraine."
Lysenko said the pilot was able to eject from the plane and was evacuated safely.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said the claim "is absurd, just like all the previous accusations from Kyiv's leadership" against Russia's military.
Ukrainian officials have recently accused Russia's armed forces of direct involvement in the three-and-a-half month conflict in which the pro-Western government in Kyiv is fighting to crush an armed rebellian by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
BREAKING: Interfax is reporting a Malaysian airliner has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border. There are no further details and the report has not been verified.
Still unconfirmed...
Interfax is reporting that the plane went down near Donetsk:
MALAYSIAN BOEING CRASHES NOT FAR FROM DONETSK WHERE FIGHTING TAKES PLACE BETWENE UKRAINIAN ARMY, MILITIAMEN - SOURCE