US tracked missile that brought down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17
The
United States detected the launch of the “specific missile” that
brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 last week, a senior
administration official told reporters on Tuesday.
US tracked missile that brought down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17
U.S. intelligence followed “this specific missile” as it was fired from “a geographic area” controlled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, said the official, who requested anonymity. It followed the near-vertical flight path characteristic of an SA-11 launch.
“We did pick up a launch. We were able to have the ability to track this specific launch,” the official said. It was not clear whether the official was referring to real-time monitoring by U.S. intelligence, or whether they went back through surveillance data after learning of the attack.
The official spoke as
the United States ramped up efforts to convince skeptics that
Moscow-backed rebels armed and trained by Russia shot down the passenger
jet, killing all 298 people aboard. Russia has disputed the largely
circumstantial American case and rejected responsibility.
“We
don’t know who, like, pulled the trigger,” the official said. “We don’t
know that a Russian was operating the system. However, that in no way
precludes Russian involvement in the sense that they are the most likely
source for this system.”
“We
assign responsibility generally to Russia for how the separatists are
armed and trained,” the official said. “What we have is a kind of
picture of evidence that says the Russians have been providing these
arms, these types of systems, and the Russians have been providing
training — and that adds up to a picture that implicates Russia,” but
“we’re going to be careful about saying who did it if we don’t know for
certain.”
“We don’t know who literally was operating the system that day,” the official said. “That’s the hardest thing to determine.”
No comments:
Post a Comment