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carry-on sized tooth paste. it's quite a humanizing experience. >> good morning, everyone. i'm alex in for tamron hall. this is "newsnation." we are awaiting a statement from president obama. in the meantime, we're following the reaction around the world and the major challenges ahead for the investigation. this morning the obama administration confirmed it's sending fbi and ntsb investigators to ukraine as they continue to scour the wreckage sites. the enormous debris field is about six square mile s what i essentially a war zone. of the 298 passengers on board 181 of the bodies have been located. we have no conformation of whether there were any americans on board. we know that most of the passengers at least 189 were

from the netherlands where the flight originated. pro-russian separatists say they recovered most of the plane's blax bocks. it's unclear what they plan to do them. officials who have not confirmed, who they believe fired the missile that brought the plane down from 33,000 feet. officials tell nbc it was fired from ukraine just inside the russian border. joining me now tom costello and kristen welker. let me begin with you kristen. what do we expect to hear from the president? >> we don't have direct guidance from the white house about that. i anticipate that the president will make remarks that are consistent with so. public statements that have been coming out of the white house over the past several hours. late last night white house press secretary josh earnest releasing a strongly worded statement urging and calling for an international and independent investigation into exactly what

happened. we anticipate that investigation and the contours of that will be coming together over the next 2 hours. also, some strong words for russia in all of this. our pentagon team telling us that according to u.s. officials, there are indications that missile was fired by either russian separatists or the russian military. they're trying to determine the exact origin of that missile. and white house press secretary had strong words. in his statement last night saying we don't have all the facts we know the incident occurred in the context of a crisis in ukraine that is fuelled by russian forth for the separatist including through arms material and training. i won't be surprised if president obama echoed that sentiment we heard from josh earnest. the president, again, likely extend the condolences to the family members and update the nation on what they know about exactly what happened to this flight. as you know, this comes against the backdrop of incredible

tensions between the u.s. and russia. earlier this week president obama announcing the stiffest route of sanctions against russia. the question is if there is a link to russia, how will that change the equation? could we see more u.s. sanctions levied against russia? that remains in the air, obviously, as the investigation continues. >> we'll be discussing it here in studio. tom, to you. as i said earlier ntsb and fbi are going to the sight. on the daily run down anthony fox appeared. i want to play a bit of what he said. the investigation beginning 18 hours after the crash. >> it's obviously a matter of concern. that's why last night the white house asked all the parties involved to calm the situation down, deescalate and allow the international community to do an investigation. >> he said it because it

happened in the middle of war zone. how do they begin to investigate an unstable area? >> i would add a couple of caveats here. i think they're important ones. when we say the united states is sending ntsb and fbi investigators, we're talking about a total of three people. that's it right now. two fbi folks one is an agent. the other is an explosives expert and a single ntsb representative. it's not a massive go team response. it is unlikely to be that, at least immediately, because number one, this is not an american investigation. number two, it is in a war zone. number three, the ukrainian rebels control access to the site not the ukrainian government. the government asked for help from the united states but they don't control the territory. at this point, it looks like the three americans, two fbi one ntsb representative will possibly station in kiev.

will their presence be a part of a broader international presence? we don't know. at the outset, would not be considered an american investigation anyway. it is a foreign carrier in a third country. however, of course, the plane is made by boeing. that would ally necessitate u.s. representativation. i think an investigation is probably not so much about what happens on the ground forensically as it is on an intelligence and military side determining pinpointing with those infrared satellites who fired the missiles. from what precise location was the missile fire and pinpoint who might have fired it. it's not something they're going to be able ascertain. >> i'm looking at notes from april 3rd of this year which issued directives to all u.s.

airlines don't go anywhere near the crimea region. the area was deemed safe despite the two shoot downs earlier this week? >> keep in mind, this was the notice to airmen and it was to united states carriers. u.s. carriers avoid the crimea region. specifically that area that russia invaded had been ukrainian territory and the russians invaded and the black sea. they were not flighting over this area at all. there was not an international notion, an international ban or prohibition on international carriers flying through the air space. it's a regularly traveled and trafficked route going from asia to europe and asia to europe or the middle east. many carriers fly this right. not just malaysian airlines. many flown it yesterday before the shoot down. now, of course, we have an image. i'm not sure if it's easily pull upble, if that's a word. easily assessable showing ukrainian air space has been all but deserted except for military

aircraft. we have a long list now of foreign aviation carriers saying they're now going to avoid ukrainian air space all together until it's resolved. i suspect that means until the war is over. >> tom costello in d.c., thank you. within the last 24 hours there have been accounts from so many witnesses. many edchaotic scenes. there are concerns that many crucial pieces of evidence were likely tampered with. joining me by phone a new york times reporter who is in the ukraine. welcome to you, david. let's talk about how secure the scene is right now around the crash site. >> the crash site is not clear. it's a combat zone. it's a war zone, and the rebels control this territory. the government of ukraine today here in kiev has been saying it

has access but there are situations where the rebels are impeding. a dispute who has possession of the data recordings devices. the black boxes that were recovered from the down the jet liner. -- they found those box and moved them from the wreckage. however, leader of the separatist said his group is in possession of them and wants them turned quickly as possible. taken out of ukraine before the experts can get their hands on them. >> i know on twitter you said the bodies are being brought to a special laboratory to identify the remains. what do we know about the process of removing the bodies and who is in charge of doingwe

about the control. the separatists don't have the capacity with large number of victims. nearly 300 people killed. what the government told us in kiev, they are appearing a mobile laboratory to the scene. this is close to the crash site to the city within government control. they'll bring the bodies remaining there for identification. that will be the headquarters of the investigation so the u.s. representatives that we were talking about earlier they will be stationed there. it seems pretty clear that the plane was taken down by a missile fired from the ground. the biggest -- may be more military intelligence from satellite where the missile came from. >> yeah. what are you hearing how conc n

concerned about locals investigating the scene? >> there's no question that investigators would like to -- uncontaminated as possible. it's not a case where we see a huge amount of -- but the question is who did it. people a [ inaudible ] >> david, very descriptive. hours after the crash they blamed russian separatists if are the disasters. they released audio from a series of intercepted phone calls between the supposed russian major and a pro-russian

separatist code named greek. they claim they're responsible for shooting down the airliner. the rebels say the phone calls are not authentic. russia denies any involvement. while the officials say it's too early to who is responsible. there is no question that the missile used to shoot down mh 17 was russian-made. what do u.s. intelligence officials know at this moment about what happened? >> alex, this morning u.s. senior officials tell nbc news that the u.s. has intelligence, firm evidence that the missile that brought down the malaysian airlines flight was fired from inside ukraine. just inside the russian border.

but they still contend they don't know for sure who exactly because it seems that as the russians have been supplying the separatists there in ukraine with all kind of heavy artillery, tanks, and, yet, these russian missile systems. they have also had u.s. -- they've had russian military forces embedded with the separatists. because after all, many of the separatists don't have the proper training to operate some of these systems particularly somewhat complicated missile system like the surface to air missile. they're not willing to say who shot down the malaysian airlines flight. there are some photographs and some video of what appears to be one of these russian missile systems on a flat bed truck being driven, high tailing it,

out of ukraine and heading for are the russian border. again, u.s. military officials say that jives with their intelligence that says, yes, this missile was fired from just inside the russian border in eastern ukraine. but again, who fired the shot has not yet been determined. intelligence officials are trying to figure that out. >> okay. and in terms of the kind of missile that is used. it's believed to be a sa 11 that's the kind that can reach that height of 33,000 fight. are there two kinds of missiles? the kind that would strike the plane and another one that could explode near the engines and send debris into the engines? do we know if it could reach the 30,000-foot height? >> what we know that the bak they can go 25 miles as high as 46,000 feet. it's believed one of the variations.

whether it was a standoff or it was a direct impact, nobody here is saying. >> okay. thank you very much. we appreciate that from the pentagon. while president obama continues to be fully briefed about the investigation, he heard about the tragedy from none other than russian president vladmir putin. they were speaking on the phone yesterday about new u.s. sanctions on russia. it was at the end of the phone call that the putin informed e tthe president. no matter who is ultimately found to be responsible for spotting down the plane, the incident is the latest example of deepening mistrust between the u.s. and russia. elliot dingell is the cochair of the european union caucus. i'm appreciative of you being in the studio. your thought on the horrible tragedy. >> it's horrible and obviously we have to wait and see who did

it. but all signs right now point to pro-russian separatists. they have been firing missilings at cargo planes all week long. it seems very likely to me it may have been a miscalculation or a mistake they thought it was a cargo plane. that how it seems to me. we don't know for sure. >> are you concerned about transparency as the investigation is conducted? >> of course. a lot of people have a lot of reason to hide what happened. i think russia doesn't want the world to know. certainly the pro-russian separatists don't want the world to know. we worry about contamination about the black boxes being removed and people tampering with thing sit's premature to say. the conclusion that people are likely to come to. it was the pro-russian separatists or perhaps russia itself that did it. not realizing it was a passenger

airport. >> and on the heels that have, i want to say that russian president putin expressed his condolences to the victims and their families. here is a quote. i want to note the tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast ukraine. and certainly the state over whose territory this occurs bears the responsibility for the awful tragedy. how do you interpret what he's saying or implying here? >> it's difficult to interpret. everybody is going to try to spin it to what they want it to be. look, i think putin has been playing a very bad role in this whole situation. he's certainly encouraging these separatists. he's playing games. he's certainly allowing them to get russian military equipment, and whether it was an accident or not, or a case of mistaken identity of a plane, i think that putin and russia bear responsibility. this is an act of terror.

this is to bring down a passenger plane with innocent civilians on it. that's horrific. the world cannot just tolerate this as something that happens in war. it should never happen. and therefore, i think the united states needs to work very closely with our allies to tell putin what to sanction putin so it won't happen again. >> would you like that to come in the form of european allies coming on board if there are sanctions against russia. as we noted president obama was talking to putin at the time of the crash and announced the new sanctions. europe seems to be reluctant to come on board. >> europe is reluctant because it gets much of the energy needs from russia. that's a real problem, but i happen to think sanctions are the way to go. we're negotiating with iran. it was sanctions that brought iran to the negotiating table. their economy is hurting. i think it's sanctions that hurts putin.

putin has to understand the nato alliance will not stand for this. he's trying to recreate the soviet union again. frankly we're not interested. we want to make sure he's not rewarded. i think this is something that has to be very tough. i think the united states cannot go at it alone. we need our european allies to do it. and frankly, i think the whole nato alliance right now is in a state of flux. i think it's a defining moment for nato. i think that the formula for nato over the past several years has been russia is partner. it's clearly no longer the case. russia, unfortunately, is an adversary. i think the whole formulation of what nato is and what we need to do with nato needs to be changed. otherwise i think nato is dead. it means that countries in nato need to contribute according to the chart 2% of their economy, of their budget, toward. right now only 3 or 4 cubs do that. that needs to be change. >> thank you very much for

weighing in. there are many angles to report and questions surrounding the crash. the president will make a statement at the bottom of the hour. we'll take you to the white house as soon as he begins speaking. we're live at amsterdam's airport we're learning more about the victims including top aids researchers. there was one couple with the baby that narrowly missed the flight. >> i was just crying. i'm just thinking i feel i've been given a second chance. we're covering another marriage story. right now israel is stepping up the ground invasion of the gaza strip with tanks and rocket fire. we'll have report from tel-aviv as officials say the operation could expand. ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪

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like, i'm shaking. i don't even know what to do.

i'm feeling physically sick. i'm just thinking i feel like i've been given a second chance. >> that was a scottish women describing how she felt when he learned the plane she was supposed to be on yesterday was shot out of the sky. her, her husband, and baby got there late and were bumped because the flight was full. meantime we're learning more about the victims. they come from all over the globe. mostly from the netherlands. they were vacationers, parents, children, even leading medical experts heading to an important aids conference. we're getting word that a dutch woman studying at indiana university was killed. a spokesman for the school talked to my colleague a short time ago. >> she was a graduate student, very smart, young woman who was a terrific athlete for us. she's really truly gong to be missed on our campus. >> >> the ap is reporting a

family has lost relatives now in both malaysian air disasters. a australian woman lost her brother in 370 found out yesterday her stepdaughter was on board 17. the next of kin will be give $5,000 for what is being called first needs. chuck henry is joining me from amsterdam. let's talk about the scene there. are victim's relatives still coming to the airport? >> what they're coming to is a hotel is off the airport sight. the building behind me is the entrance to terminal 3. where international passengers entered. they were taken to a hotel. malaysian airlines has flown up representatives. they're giving any kind of assistance they want. you mentioned about children. we understand there may be as many as 100 children on that flight. many of them were students because this is the peak of the

summer travel season. there are a lot of groups in there. i was through the airport this morning through mh 17 left at about 12:30 local time here. same flight, same flight designation same aircraft. they didn't change a thing. there were many students aboard. >> yeah. okay. i imagine there are official at the voetthotel and providing resources they can to the families? >> yes, they are. they're providing as much as they can. and not only are they providing resources to family. we estimate the number of families may be large. there were 189, if memory serves me correct, nationals from the netherlands on that flight. many of them, as i say, were children. you can assume some were teenagers and mothers and fathers over at the hotel, extended and family. >> chuck henry, thank you very much. we appreciate the live report. many questions remain about russia's possible role in the

crash. we'll talk to andrea mitchell and colonel jack jacobs. we're following another breaking news story today. israel warns the military could widen the ground offensive but hamas said israel will pay a heavy price. a live report from israel is next. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business.

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>>well, alex, so far they say they have found at least five tunnels. they think there's probably doesn't mo dozens of more. that's a major event already. the prime minister said one of the key goals of the -- in fact the key goal of the operation is to uncover the tunnel network and destroy them. i think to find fire with the early stage is pretty good. but the israeli prime minister netanyahu, after the morning's cabinet meeting said in addition to tunnels being the same operation. may expand the operation in order to to achieve sustained quiet for israeli citizens. that means could mean anything. a long stay inside gaza taking out all of hamas'. there's massive firing against the hamas target the in gaza.

you remember the israels about 100,000 leaflets warning palestinians in northern gaza to leave their homes for their own safety. well, that is the area that the israeli troops are approaching on the ground. they are going house to house. they're going through schools and mosques looking for any kind of militant activity, weapons, rocket launchers, and so far, as you mentioned about two dozen palestinians are being killed since the ground invasion began. the closer the reisraelis goa g the urban area the likely it's to rise. we're awaiting the statement from the president. we'll take you live to the white house as soon as the president begins. flight mh 17 was not the first commercial jet to be shot line. the other examples including by american forces. vo: you get used to pet odors in your car. you think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this...

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at 35 past we're waiting for president obama to come to the white house briefing room. he's expected there at any minute. the white house said he'll deliver a statement on the situation in ukraine. and as we await the president. we have more on the tragic crash. first up, who is responsible for bringing down malaysian airlines flight 17? u.s. investigators from the fbi and ntsb will be heading to ukraine to help in the investigation. if it's determined that russian separatists were involved, as many suspect, what will be the international repercussions? joining me now, chief correspondent michael crowley and colonel jack jacobs. we'll be joined by andrea mitchell shortly. colonel, let's talk about what happened. we had samantha powers speaking at the emergency session of the u.n. council indicating that all evidence now points to separatists in eastern ukraine

being responsible for this. not definitive yet. your reaction? >> i think we already know. i think our government knows exactly who did it. >> how do they know that? >> because we have at satellites covering that area for quite some time. all continuously. and so we have actual optical views of the play and infrared views of the place. it's easy to see on which side of the border the thing was shot from. i think the government, our government already knows who did it. >> michael, talk about the fact we're taking some time, i mean, you obviously want to be unequivocally certain of what you're going to say. if you're going to accuse someone of this. talk about the hesitation in doing something. there's a lot at stake here diplomatically speaking. >> there is absolutely a lot at stake. there are a lot of reasons for it. one the obvious reason. natural desire to have the facts straight and pretty much throw

the best punch you can when you come out the gate. think about the context here. putin and the gremlin have, you know, kind of performed some masterful propaganda throughout the whole process going back to the original revolution in kiev. so if you make a mistake and you get something slightly wrong, even though, you know, the moral copability might be the same, if you slightly mistake the facts so you to backtrack. putin and the russians are not going give you for it. and you'll be cleaning up after it. you want to get a good, clean hit the first time. you're dealing with a guy in moscow who will manipulate information, lie, and distort. i think the goal is to really get it right the first time. because so much of this right now is going to be about international public opinion and trying to mobilize european governments to step up sanctions. >> and one step further. knowing that it was the separatists who did that, even if you know it for sure is not

very much ammunition. i think the administration -- >> ammunition against putin? >> yeah. because it is lightweight ammunition, i think the administration is trying to figure out what leverage it can exercise with the information. i hate to be a cynic, as looking for whatever leverage it can use here and won't make the announcement until it's sure it can extract the maximum leverage from the incident to positively effect what is going take place. >> and speaking of leverage, michael, we have the united states imposing the economic sanctions against russia. the president telling putin about that on the phone. without the european allies coming on board how effective it can be? >> it's important for the viewers to understand that the europeans are unhappy about what putin is doing in ukraine. they don't particularly like him. they ab horde in a moral sense.

they understand imposing the kinds of sanctions that are going to really put putin in a bind, twist the arm behind the back, damage the russia's economy will come with consequence to the european economies which we know have been struggling to break out of economic stagnation after the global financial crisis, and not only if you impose sanctions on another country you limit your own economic activity. you subject yourself to possible retaliation from moscow which has a lot of economic leverage. even in the context the signs we're hearing from the europe. can tal is cautious. i'm surprised about the cautious tones we're hearing. i think it reflects that these european countries are sensitive about the fragile sate of their economy and the top priority to get out their economic. and they worry accelerating the fight with putin to threaten

that. >> all it points to trying to get president putin to back out of ukraine, ultimately, right? >> well, that would be the goal. is to get him to essentially leave ukraine alone. stop essentially arming the separatists. try to get him to engage in really productive, honest dialogue with kiev. these are things he's not shown any sign in wanting to do. it seems like he would likely need to be forced to those things. probably by economic sanctions. some people would argue the right of maybe arming the ukrainians, but i just don't think we're close to the point right now. the initial response out of europe hasn't been as strong as i guessed 24 hours ago. >> before you say something arming ukraine. the likelihood of that is? >> zero. pretty much close to zero. and putin is not highly -- he's got a high threshold of pain. neither he nor the separatists care what the world thinks about

them in any case. the kind of pressure we can bring to bear on putin or the separatists has to be extremely high. it's nothing that we want to -- take a look at the sanctions we've placed on russia in the first place. despite the fact the administration said these are serious -- they're not really serious sanctions. even we haven't put serious sanctions for a lot of reasons mike is talking about. >> okay. colonel and mike, i ask you to stick around. we're going to further our conversation if we can. we're continuing to await the president's comments from the white house. stay with us. we'll be right back on msnbc. o s with listerine®. its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than any other mouthwash. for a cleaner, healthier mouth, #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth™. #1 dentist recommended can you fix it, dad? yeah, i can fix that.

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. at 45 pass the hour we're awaiting president obama to make a statement on the malaysian airlines crash. we'll take you to the briefing room as soon as the president takes the podium. we continue to follow the latest on israel's major ground offensive in gaza.

more than a doesn't palestinize have been killed. we just heard richard ingel talking about this. i know, you were here yesterday talking to tamron hall about it. the possible ceasefire deal in the works, what happened? it was my understanding that israel agreed to it. what happened to the ceasefire? why did it fail, and why did israel decide to launch the offensive last night? and it failed because hamas is interested in israel's destruction not interested in improving the future of the palestinian people or engaging in any kind of direct or indirect diplomatic relations with the world. hamas is a deadly, brutal organization. why did israel go in? the only way for us to effectively destroy and significantly entire the palestinian, hamas's ability to destruct our lives so dramatically. they have nearly 1,000 tunnels.

some are a mile long. they penetrate israel undergrounds and pose a significant threat to israeli safety and security. it. >> you talk about the objectives of israel you say 1,000 tunnels, what will it take for the operation to be considered a success. it's a lot of tunnels to try to disengage. >> we need heavy machinery to destroy the tunnels. physically you can't do it only from the air. the combination of ground troops and air attacks may provide us with the peace and quiet we need. >> and we have benjamin netanyahu saying the ground invasion could expand. do you know what it might look like? is that in terms of size or the duration or both? >> military forces by definition have to be -- one of the things we're looking at is the possibility of expanding the operation on the ground, but the decision will be made based on the developments on the ground.

but the israeli cabinet authorized the israel defense forces to expand the operation if needed. >> israel dropped so many leaflets warning residents to get out of the way because harm could be coming to them. as we know, many civilians have been killed. what more can israel do to try to lessen that burden? >> well, you know, i think you're looking at perhaps the most transparent military operation of late. we've been trying to inform the population in gaza of the upcoming operation for days, you know, to the extent we're calling individual households and informing them we're about to enter the area. unfortunately, we're dealing with an organization that is trying to exploit its own people. an organization that is continuous llier. pet waiting the suffering of their people because images like you're showing now would put

international pressure on israel. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. up next we're awaiting a statement from the president on the crash of malaysian airlines flight 17. i'll talk live with nbc chief foreign affairs andrea mitchell after the break. we thought karate was just another phase. but now we're karate parents. one day i noticed her gi looked dingier than the other kids. so i used tide plus bleach alternative and now she's all...pow! she looks as sharp as a serpent strike. [ female announcer ] tide plus bleach alternative. that's my tide plus.

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at 52 past the hour, we are awaiting the president to take to that podium in seconds, we are told if the white house is calculating this correctly. i'm joined by nbc's andrea mitchell who is joining us a little early from her own set down there since her show starts in justi a few minutes as well. do you expect the president to speak in detail about his conversation with not only russian president vladimir putin but also world leaders about the crash of this malaysian airlines flight 17? >> i think he'll reference that but i don't think he'll give chapter and verse of his conversation with vladimir putin which i suspect was a rather difficult conversation yesterday. he will be speaking out against, and i think the president has

just come to the podium. so i guess we'll let him take it from there. >> indeed we will. >> malaysian airlines flight mh-17 took off from amsterdam and was shot down over ukraine near the russian border. nearly 300 innocent lives were taken. men, women, children, infants who have nothing to do with the crisis in ukraine. their deaths are a outrage of unspeakable proportions. we know at least one american citizen, quinn lucas chanceman was killed. our thoughts and prayers are with his family for this terrible loss. yesterday i spoke with the leaders of ukraine, malaysia and the netherlands. i told them that our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and that the american people stand with them during this difficult time. later today i'll be speak with

prime minister abbott of australia, which also suffered a terrible loss. by far, the country that lost the most people on board the plane was the netherlands. from the days of our founding, the dutch have been close friends and stallwart allies of the united states of america and today i want the dutch people to know we stand with you shoulder to shoulder in our grief and in our absolute determination to get to the bottom of what happened. here's what we know so far. evidence indicates that the plane was shot dunn own by surp to air missile in an area controlled by russian backed separatists inside of ukraine. we also know this is not the first time a plane has been shot down in eastern ukraine. over the last several weeks, russian-backed separatists have shot down a ukrainian transport plane and a ukrainian helicopter and they claimed responsibility for shooting down a ukrainian

fighter jet. moreover, we know these separatists have received a steady flow of support from russia. this includes arms and training. it includes heavy weapons and it includes anti-aircraft weapons. here's what must happen now. this was a global tragedy. an asian airliner was destroyed in european skies filled with citizens from many countries so there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened. the u.n. security council has endorsed this investigation and we will hold all its members, including russia, to their word. in order to facilitate that investigation, russia, pro-russian separatists and ukraine must adhere to an immediate cease-fire. evidence must not be tampered with, investigators need to access the crash site, and the

solemn task of returning those who were lost on board the plane to their loved ones needs to go forward immediately. the united states stands ready to provide any assistance that is necessary. we've already offered the support of the fbi and the national transportation safety board, which has experience in working with international partners on these types of investigations. they are on their way. personnel from the fbi and the national transportation safety board. in the coming hours and days i'll continue to be in close contact with leaders from around the world as we respond to this catastrophe. our immediate focus will be on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly what happened, and putting forward the facts. i want to point out there will likely be misinformation as well. i think it's very important for folks to sift through what is factually based and what is simply speculation. no one can deny the truth that

is revealed in the awful images we all have seen. and the eyes of the world are on eastern ukraine, and we are going to make sure that the truth is out. more broadly, i think it's important for us to recognize that this outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be restored in ukraine. for months, we've supported a pathway to peace, and the, cranian government has reached out to all ukrainians, put forward a peace plan and lived up to a cease-fire, despite repeated violations by the separatists. violations that took the lives of ukrainian soldiers and personnel. moreover, time and again, russia has refused to take the concrete steps necessary to de-escalate the situation. i spoke to president putin yesterday in the wake of additional sanctions that we imposed. he said he wasn't happy with them, and i told him that we

have been very clear from the outset that we want russia to take the path that would result in peace in ukraine but so far at least, russia has failed to take that path. instead, it has continued to violate ukrainian sovereignty and to support violent separatists. it has also failed to use its violence to press the separatists to abide by a cease-fire. that's why, together with our allies we've imposed growing costs on russia. now i think is a somber and appropriate time for all of us to step back and take a hard look at what has happened. violence and conflict inevitably lead to unforeseen consequences. russia, the separatists and ukraine all have the capacity to put an end to the fighting. meanwhile, the united states is going to continue to lead efforts within the world community to de-escalate the situation, to stand up for the

sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine and to support the people of ukraun as they courageously work to strengthen their democracy and make their own decisions about how they should move forward. before i take just a couple of questions, let me remark on one other issue this morning. i spoke with prime minister netanyahu of israel about the situation in gaza. we discussed israel's military operation in gaza, including its efforts to stop the threat of terrorist infiltration through tunnels into israel. i reaffirmed my strong support for israel's right to defend itself. no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunnelling into its territory. in fact, while i was having the conversation with prime minister gla netanyahu, sirens went off in tel aviv. i made clear the united states and our friends and allies are deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of more innocent life.

and that's why we've indicated, although we support military efforts by the storisraelis to sure rockets are not fired in their territory, we also have said that our understanding is the current military ground operations are designed to deal with the tunnels, and we are hopeful that israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and that all of us are working hard to return to the cease-fire that was reached in november of 2012. secretary kerry is working to support egypt's initiative to pursue that outcome. i told prime minister netanyahu that john is prepared to travel to the region following additional consultations. let me close by making one additional comment. on board malaysian airlines flight mh-17 there were apparentlyrl