Interfax: Pro-Russian rebel official says MH17 “most likely” downed by Ukrainian Buk

Ukraine Air Crash Scene with Uniformed Security Personnel, Flames, Smoke

(Interfax – August 12, 2015)

Andriy Purhin (Andrey Purgin), the deputy speaker of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) people’s council, has said that the Malaysian Boeing is likely to have been downed by a Ukrainian Buk air defence system, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax quoted him as saying on 12 August.

“Certainly, a Buk [missile] is more likely [to blame] here. These systems are still in the arsenal of the Ukrainian [military] units. According to my information, there were Buk systems on the crash site at the time, which were in the arsenal of the Ukrainian military units located on the territory of Luhansk Region,” Purhin told Interfax.

Purhin added that after the crash, the Buk could have been relocated to a different area.

“It was a mess there. Kiev was moving these Buk [systems] as it pleased. I do not rule out that this particular Buk was moved to a different site,” Purhin said.

Commenting on the Buk fragments recently discovered by the Malaysian Boeing probe at the crash site, Purhin said: “There were a lot of fragments related to these systems at the time. It is indeed hard to ascertain now whether it is that same Buk or a different one.”

 

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