Suspected rebel missiles take down Ukrainian fighter jets

KIEV, Ukraine – Two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down in contested airspace near the Russian border Wednesday as tension between the two countries increased a week after a missile struck a passenger jet, killing all 298 people onboard.

No one could agree on who fired the missiles that hit the fighter jets. Kiev pointed the finger at Russia, while both the Kremlin and pro-Russia separatists said the separatists were responsible.

Regardless, the fact that the jets were brought down six days after a suspected separatist-fired missile felled Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 stoked fears of a deteriorating military situation. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russia has supplied the separatists with dozens of additional rocket launchers and military vehicles in the days since the passenger plane was hit.

The downing of the airliner, which U.S. officials suspect was a mistake, as well as the global outcry that followed, had raised hopes that the fighting in eastern Ukraine might cool off.

But on Wednesday, battles raged in a number of cities in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region after several days of fighting in the center of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk. Tension also appeared to be ratcheting up between Russia and Western Europe. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Merkel “thinks rapid decisions are necessary” because of Russia’s lack of cooperation in defusing the conflict in Ukraine.

Kiev’s Su-25 jets were flying fewer than 10 miles from the Russian border over the southeastern Ukrainian towns of Saur Mogila and Dmytrivka on Wednesday when they were shot down, forcing the pilots to eject. Their whereabouts were not immediately known.