Neither government mentioned that the Ukrainian military has several batteries of surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, and that those systems were recently moved into eastern Ukraine.
Regardless of the facts, in the coming days, the US government will no doubt offer "proof" that the airliner was targeted by rebels who received the missiles from Russia.
They will then use this as justification for Ukraine's military offensive in the east in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. This is key because the US desperately wants Ukraine to regain control of Donetsk and Luhansk -- two regions who recently had referendums declaring independence from Ukraine. (Lucky for Poroshenko the Malaysian airplane incident occurred above Donetsk, the exact place in which he's been planning a military offensive.)
And even though their claims will be just as dubious as the "evidence" they offered for Saddam Hussein's WMDs and just as sketchy as the "proof" they had that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people, they'll get away with it because of how well the US has demonized Russia.
In all likelihood, Ukraine will couch their military interventions into Donetsk and Luhansk as payback for the Malaysian Airlines crash, even though such plans have been in the works for weeks. Most recently, on July 5 Ukrainian President Poroshenko tweeted: "My order is now in effect - tighten the ring around the terrorists. Continue the operation to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
In fact, in the week prior to the Malaysian plane crash, at least 30 civilians were killed in Ukraine's military offensive in the east. This follows the Ukrainian government's incursion into Slovyansk where hundreds of civilians were killed, and another military operation where 270 people who were killed in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk region in June.
Given the sanctions leveled on Russia by the US, the false claims of Russian troop buildups, and the scapegoating of Russia for deaths inside Ukraine, Putin has shown remarkable restraint. He certainly knows that the US is trying to lure him into a trap.
In addition to revoking his authorization to deploy Russian troops inside Ukraine in June, Russia has repeatedly asked the UN Security Council to come up with a plan for a ceasefire. But Ukraine never wanted a ceasefire, in part because the US has strongly backed Ukraine's offensive against the mostly ethnic Russian rebels in the east.
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