Ukrainian plane shot down over warring city

Pro-Russian separatists using a surface-to-air missile shot down a Ukrainian Air Force plane they claim was providing aerial surveillance during a fire fight on the ground on Friday in the eastern town of Slaviansk.

A photographer witnessed the plane barrelling to the ground with its starboard engine on fire and the two pilots parachuting from the aircraft but he did not see it crash, Reuters reports.

Separatists claim the air force AN-30 plane was on a surveillance mission when it was shot down by MANPADS (Man-portable air-defence system).

The self-proclaimed mayor of the city of Slaviansk in the breakaway province of Donestk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, told Reuters it was a spy-plane that was shot down.

"The airplane was hit in the centre of the city. It happened in front of my own eyes. It was a wonderful sight. The residents who saw it applauded," Mr Ponomaryov said.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's anti-terrorist operation confirmed a plane had been shot down but maintained it was an AN-26 transport plane providing humanitarian assistance.

The plane's shooting over Slaviansk, a city of 130,000 people, came one day before the swearing in of Ukraine's democratically elected president, billionaire-chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko.

Read more: Poroshenko sworn in as Ukraine president.

At the pro-European Union president's swearing in on Saturday, Mr Poroshenko called upon rebels in his fractured nation to lay down their arms and begin a dialogue to find peace but warned he would not deal with people he called "gangsters and killers".

Source: Reuters
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Jack Hawke