satellite and radar feeds first, a surface to air missile system had been turned on in the eastern ukraine. a moment later, a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a midair exkploez. >> we know that within hours of this event, this particular system passed through two towns, right in the vicinity of the shoot down. we know because we have observed it by imagery that at the moment of the shoot down, we detected a launch from the area and our trajectory shows that it went to the aircraft. >> the conclusion, a russian supplied surface to air missile launcher. the evidence, according to the analysis posted by the tate department, intercepts of separatists communications posted on youtube by the ukrainian government indicate that the separatists were in oh, session of a sa-11 system. the s amp-11, the western name for it. u.s. intelligence matched the voices to other separatist recordings. the rebels claimed to have shut down a military personal property plan. when it was clear it was a passenger jet, social media posts were quickly deleted and then there was this. further evidence of a

missile system works. it can fire up to 72,000 feet. it is a surface-to-airissile, medium-range missile, designed to bring down planes, warplanes as well as cruise missiles. the way it works according to military sources it has two radar systems, and it has a semiautonomous homing device which means that if somebody points that missile at a target, if there is a nearby target that is larger, the missile will divert off course and take on that larger target. so you could see in a situation like this where there are multiple planes in the sky that the separatist its, if in fact they fired the buk missile they could have thought they were targeting a cargo jet, a military plane, ukrainian military plane as they did on monday when they brought down the antonov-26. that missile could have honed on to a commercial jet like the mh17 passing by. that is how this missile system works. it is very similar to our patriot missile system which you heard deployed multiple times over the years to various war zones. this sa-17 or sa-11 buk missile system. that is how it works

been asking, what brought down this plane and one of the prevailing theories is a surface-to-air missile system is responsible. here are some details on the missile system that may have brought down malaysia airlines flight 17. the ukrainian administer adviser claims a buc, surface-to-air missile hit the plane. it's russian made, a self propelled missile fired from a launcher, usually mounted on a vehicle like a truck. this is heavy weaponry we are talking about here. it can target a plane up to 25,000 feet in the air or twiefr,000 metres in the air i should say, yes, 25,000 metres in the air about 82,000 feet roughly double a commercial jet. according to jason defense analysts, both the ukrainian and russian militarys have these weapons in their arsenal. cnn's tom foreman has more on this particular missile system. >> if you want to figure out what could have hit this plane, you have to think about the circumstances of the plane at the time. it was about 32, 33,000 feet in the air over ukraine. it was about 30 miles away from the russian border. so you cannot hit this with some shoulder-fired

that is that a surface-to-air missile system that was russian in origin brought this aircraft down and so i think we really know what happened. getting to those black boxes isn't going to tell us much. the black boxes will only say this was a perfectly good airplane right up until the impact of that missile. getting to the crash site could provide some forensic evidence, perhaps things like residue from explosives or some metal fragments but i think right now what we really need to do is get to the crash site and preserve some of the dignity of the dead and their loved ones. >> it's hard to call that anything other than an outrage. given this situation and given that we're in an active war zone here, how do we get to the bottom of this and find out who is to blame? >> right, that's going to be the challenge because we know that the rebels had this weapon, we know that it came from rebel territory and saw two weeks ago nato intelligence officials were briefing they saw the russians giving training to the rebels on this sophisticated tactical mobile surface-to-air missile system. so ther

system. they have shoulder missiles. it's a man portable air defense system. >> they can't reach 30,000 feet? >> they can't reach 30,000. >> other opponents of israel presumably could, right? >> yeah. so wealthy are not flying in an area under threat of these kinds of missiles and we have other protections we can use against this kind of threat. it's easy to hit civilian aircraft with such a weapons system. it's an illegitimate target for sure. the pilot has no way to know that they are locked by this kind of missiles and they have nothing to do when the missile hits them. >> general, stand by. we're going to pick your brain. you know a lot about this. ben gurion just the other day, the pilot was telling us about the special security procedures all commercial xsh aircraft take coming into israel. stand by for that. richard quest is getting more information. what are you picking up? >> well, there was nos distress call. the aircraft involved will have had the a cars automatic reporting system. i understand tonight in enmar sat has now provided t

saying is that they have intercepted this exchange of information between the defense system a surface to air missile and and its target at the time the boeing went down the russians say that the ukrainian military has three of these systems in the donetsk area and. they were in range of the plane when it went down now also the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has just given a statement that russia will be demanding full objective and transparent investigation into this tragedy and he also said with regard to the ukraine shelling of of russia a few days ago that should this continue then russia could technically. destroy the points where these ukrainian shells are coming on coming from so you know he's threatening retaliation on that front. strong response in deed from the russian authorities are chorus one of the karl reporting live from moscow thank you. and one after another major air carriers are diverting their planes around ukrainian airspace among the front scale and europe's transport agency your control is advised all e.u. carriers to avoid ukraine's space let's hear from artie's corre

system and the ukrainian. air defense ukrainian air force now that the book system is just catered. to where a missile and the russians saying that the ukrainians do have this book system in the don't yet area and that there were three of these missile batteries in range of the boeing when it went down they're not saying anything more than that now also. the kremlin spokesman dmitri pursuit of told the british newspaper the guardian that it is stupid to think that russia is culpable for this and we know that president putin has also said that ukraine lost their responsibility for this act for this tragedy happened over ukrainian territory and if there was peace in eastern ukraine then it never would have happened this is what the president had to say earlier. you know we have to do everything in our capability to make sure an objective picture of what happened is made public and known to people in our country as well as the people of ukraine and the whole world what happened is completely unacceptable and no one has the right to walk away without making ject of conclusion of what happened. i want to p

missile system works. it can fire up to 72,000 feet. it is a surface-to-air missile, medium-range missile, designed to bring down planes, warplanes as well as cruise missiles. the way it works according to military sources it has two radar systems, and it has a semiautonomous homing device which means that if somebody points that missile at a target, if there is a nearby target that is larger, the missile will divert off course and take on that larger target. so you could see in a situation like this where there are multiple planes in the sky that the separatist its, if in fact they fired the buk missile they could have thought they were targeting a cargo jet, a military plane, ukrainian military plane as they did on monday when they brought down the antonov-26. that missile could have honed on to a commercial jet like the mh17 passing by. that is how this missile system works. it is very similar to our patriot missile system which you heard deployed multiple times over the years to various war zones. this sa-17 or sa-11 buk missile system. that is how it wor

a both from anti government forces that they had taken possession of an advanced surface to air missile system capable of bringing down such a plane however in an interview to the ukrainian media kiev general prosecutor actually denied that and another allegation coming from ukrainian officials is based around what they say is an intercepted phone call between anti-government fighters in it they purportedly admit to shooting down the plane now if this passenger jet was shot down there are few weapons in the region able to do that one possible example is the surface to air missile system several former soviet countries have the weapon including ukraine it has the ability to intercept up to twenty four targets at the same time within a distance of up to forty five kilometers or an altitude of twenty five kilometers it's projectiles travel up to twelve hundred meters per second as of yet though no confirmation this missile system may have been the cause of the crash. now we spoke to charlie mcgrath a founder of wide awake news he believes the western media has already very quickly chosen a scapeg

the ukrainian say it was a buk, be surface-to-air missile system. is that possible? tom foreman, how does this buk missile system work? could it hit a plane traveling 30,000 feet in the air, 500 miles an hour? >> let's bring in the map and talk about the lay of the land here. that's part of the answer to your question. the plane took off from amsterdam and headed to cue oo al lal lumpur. it passes right over the ukraine space. all indications were this plane was about 32,000 feet in the air. is that in the range of some surface-to-air missiles? yes, it absolutely is. there are some that can. it was about 30 miles from the russian border. we're not saying it came from russia but saying this is what you should know about the lay of the land. so if someone wanted to strike this plane from russia or from here in the areas where the pro-russian separatists are or from over in ukraine, could they do it, yes, this he could with one of these systems. the buk anti-missile system that we're showing here is about half the size it is in real life. this is a state-of-the-art syste

if the rebels were given a little bit of training on these surface-to-air missile systems they probably weren't told how to use all the capabilities of that system to determine the difference between a commercial and a military aircraft. they probably just saw a blip on the radar, locked on and pulled the trigger, but i think what happened here is that mr. putin gave some delinquent children a can of gasoline and some matches, and he's now shocked to find out that they started a fire. >> it's horrifying. all right, colonel steve ganyard, our aviation consultant reporting in from london this morning, thank you. >> and our thoughts and prayers, of course, with the loved ones who lost so many people and of course it bears reminding this is a human tragedy. nearly 300 lost souls and we're starting to hear some of their stories and the twist of fate surrounding that doomed flight. circumstances keeping some people off the plane saving their lives while others wound up last-minute passengers. abc's david wright has their incredible stories from kuala lumpur. david. >> reporter: good morning,

are a few weapons in the region able to do that one possible example is the book surface to air missile system several former soviet countries use the weapon including ukraine it has the ability to intercept up to twenty four targets at the same time at a distance of forty five kilometers an altitude of twenty five kilometers in fact its missiles travel up to twelve hundred meters per second and yet there is no confirmation this missile system was the cause of the crash now for more on the technical side we can cross live to australia and talk to richard woodward a pilot and aviation expert good to see you today thanks for joining us on the program of the plane actually chose quite a different route compared to the flight so why do you think that that happened is it just simply because of the war zone in eastern ukraine normally this is really controllers. from one side of the country you know other and that's a direct threat so the normal erode what about it what about this so-called a book rocket launcher system that's being discussed allegedly there are some in the region if that is the mos

and reports suggest a book surface to air missile system may have been used so over. all former soviet countries use the weapon including ukraine it has the ability to intercept up to twenty four targets at the same time within a distance of up to forty five kilometers and reaching an altitude of twenty five thousand kilometers it's projectiles travel at up to one thousand two hundred meters per second and as yet there is no confirmation that this missile system was the cause of the crash right now our correspondent now is taking us through some of the well now what about other call it a wild speculation that we're seeing now all across the media. a shocking tragedy claiming the lives of nearly three hundred victims before and investigation even begins the lack of credible facts has it prevented many in the west from jumping to conclusions according to the sun newspaper the russian president is personally responsible for downing the malaysia airlines plane in ukraine and accusation some u.s. officials are doing their best to feel if it is a result of either separatist

was allegedly a boast from anti-government forces taken possession of an advanced surface to air missile system capable of bringing down such a plane however in an interview to the ukrainian media general prosecutor actually denied that another allegation coming from ukrainian officials is based around what they say is an intercepted phone call between anti-government fighters in it they purportedly admit to shooting down the plane. now if indeed this passion project was shot down there are few weapons in the region able to do that and one possible example is the book surface to air missile system several former soviet countries use the weapon including ukraine it has the ability to intercept up to twenty four targets at the same time within a distance of up to forty five kilometers and reaching altitudes of twenty five kilometers it's projectiles travel up to twelve hundred meters per second as of yet there's no confirmation this missile system was the cause of the crash now legal expert and blogger alexander mccord us he says that a thorough investigation must be conducted before anything is

the only way to reach 21,000 feet is with one of these large surface-to-air missile systems, radar guidedt there was no warning issued. so yeah, i think there was a little bit of -- i don't think it was an intelligence failure so much as maybe a systemic failure in the air traffic control system. >> how to react to it and make sure the flights are safe. >> i would have immediately stopped the flights over that area as soon as i saw that 21,000 feet. >> bob, i wonder, a lot of the most interesting evidence has come from these intercepted phone calls by ukrainian intelligence and today, you have another one. it's almost i think as i said earlier, almost as if you and i had written a script to prove that the russians had hidden the black boxes, this is how we would have written this phone call. the russians want it, let's get it to russia as quickly as we can, this kind of thing. you listened to these calls. you analyzed a lot of intelligence in your career. do they seem authentic to you? are you concerned that the timing and the content is almost too convenient? >> well, you know, the russi

a boast from the government forces that they had taken possession of an advanced surface to air missile system capable of bringing down such a plane however in an interview to the ukrainian media kiev's general prosecutor actually denied that and another allegation coming from ukrainian officials is based around what they say is an intercepted phone call between anti-government why it is indeed they purportedly admit to shooting down the plane. if this passenger jet was shot down there are a few weapons in the region able to do so one a possible example is the book surface to air missile system. several former soviet countries have the weapon including ukraine and it does have the ability to intercept up to twenty four targets at the same time with a distance of up to forty five kilometers and an altitude of twenty five kilometers in fact its projectiles travel up to twelve hundred meters per second as yet there's no confirmation this missile system was the cause of the crash we spoke to charlie mcgrath here in r.t. international the founder of wide awake news he believes that western media ha

intelligence knew that the rebels had captured the surface-to-air missile system. did we have any knowledge of this beforehand? >> in the past couple of days all of a sudden a number of ukrainian military planes that were flying at relatively high altitude 25,000 feet were shot down that, is about the time u.s. intelligence sr. began to believe the russian separatists had some type of anti-aircraft system that went beyond shoulder-fired missiles. it went from shoulder-fired missiles to something sophisticated like the type of weapons that would have been used to shoot down this airliner. >> all right, leland vitter in washington was there in the region not too long ago. we'll check in with you as news warrants. rnlts t rnlts. >>> the united states puts sarngss with russia on the company that creates and builds these. >>> new information is emerging about the victims, it's very confusing, 298 people killed, 23 believed to be american. david piper joins us live from ban k bangkok, thailand, with how the world is reacting. >> reporter: good morning, yes, there's a gro

, yes, we believe that surface to air missiles were fired from this region to bring down malaysian air flight 17. they have even announced the name of the missile system saying it's an s.a. 11 buk surface to air missile system according to the u.s. embassy in kiev. >> ivan, thank you very much. we want to turn to the other big story of the day. the deadliest day yet in gaza. martin, the are brutal battle between hamas and israel saw a deadly day on both sides. hamas is claiming they captured an israeli soldier during an early morning operation. what do you know? >> if that's true it's a definitely a significant development in a day that's had no shortage of terrible developments. we should point out the israeli military has not confirmed nor denied the report that hamas has captured one of their soldiers. hamas released the identity and the i.d. number of the soldier. that doesn't necessarily mean it's proof. the soldier was captured in the northeastern part of gaza which saw increased military activity from the israelis. this news comes at what's already been a very difficult day. a massive black cloud marks gaza's deadliest day. health officials rep

and ukrainian officials believed a missile system was responsible for downing the flight. it's a such as to air missile system. dick rushworth explains. >> the spotlight is on russian-built weaponry from the soviet era. the book missile system dates to the 1970's, radar guide it includes four surface to air missiles on a turn table mounted on a tank. each has a range of up to 28 kilometers. rushinga is blaming ukraine for the airline disaster. while not saying directly kiev forces shut down the plane, it said it does have the book mitchell system in place. >> the ukrainian surface to air missile regiment has 27 book m.-1 launchest in the region. >> kiev has presented evidence showing a russian crew operated within eastern ukraine to launch a missile. >> it is most important for us to get from the russian side the names of all three crew members, russian servicemen who managed to book anti-aircraft system and directly press the trigger and launch a missile against a civilian passenger aircraft. >> did separatist fighters launch from rebel held positions? both said on russian social media that re

western governments believe moscow insurgents attacked the passenger jet using a surface-to-air missile system. on sunday, washington released satellite images claiming to show rockets and weapons fired from russia and ukraine. haves refuted by moscow called for a partial inquiry into mh17's tragic downing. >> i have already commented on the images. it took 10 days for the u.n. to supply them. it is up to the experts to explain why the images were not not released earlier. >> meanwhile, there is growing concern they crash site is not fully safer international investigators. violence between ukrainian troops and pro-russian separatists shows no sign of abating. the unrest is hindering experts from gaining vital information and possibly vindicating russia or ukraine. >> in other news, as the situation deteriorates, foreign nationals are being urged to followingcountry clashes. the country is struggling to rein in militant violence. france has joined a growing number of nations calling on its citizens to leave. >> a plane burns on the tarmac as islamist militias continue filing in and around trip

first, a surface to air missile system had been turned on in eastern ukraine. moment later, a satellite captured the mid-air explosion. >> we know that within hours, this particular system passed through two towns right in the vicinity of the shootdown. we foe because we observed it by imagery that at the moment of the shootdown, we detected a launch from that area. and our tra jekt ri shows that it went to the aircraft. >> the conclusion? a russian supply boog surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the flight. the evidence? according to the information posted by the state department, posted by the youtube by the ukraine government, they were in possession of an sa-11 system as early as monday, july 14th. u.s. intelligence match those voices to other separatist recordings. the rebels claim to have shut down a military transport claim. when it became clear it was a passenger jet, social media posts were quickly deleted. then there was this. a quick shot of what is believed to be the missile launcher on its way back to russia. further evidence of a russian con

first a surface-to-air missile system had been activated in a separatist controlled area in eastern ukrainea moment later, a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a midair explosion. >> we detected a launch from that area and our trajectory shows it went to the aircraft. >> reporter: the conclusion, russian supplied sa-11 surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the flight. evidence, u.s. verified telephone intercepts including the separatists had an sa-11 system as early as monday, july 13th. there may be more evidence, erin. u.s. intelligence identified a facility, a training camp, just across the border inside russia where it says separatists went to get trained on how to use these surface-to-air missile systems. >> barbara starr, thank you. >>> now congressman eliot engel in ukraine monthes a gi. ago. you said this is quote, an act of terror. do you still stand by that? >> oh, yes. once we have fear among people of flying with be it is an act of terror. >> i know this is very important determining the world's response sb so i want it make sure i really understand you on this. i

first, a surface to air missile system had been in eastern ukraine. a moment later, a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a midair explosion. >> we detected a launch from that area and our trajectory shows that it went to the aircraft. >> reporter: the conclusion, a russian-supplied buk or surfa surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the plane. the separatists had a system like this as early as monday, july 14th. u.s. intelligence has identified a facility inside of russia where rebel fighters have been trained on surface-to-air missile systems. more than a dozen aircraft have been shot down in the last few months. that's more than previously acknowledged. could the ukrainians have shot down the commercial airliner? the u.s. says no. ukraine has the same weapons system used in this case but none were in the area at the time. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> petro poroshenko left the country for only six weeks. he told christiane amanpour has suffered the worst attacks in history. >> christiane, i don't see any differences from the tragedy of 9/11, from the

you russian back separatists made no secret about the surface to air missile system. they showed off the possession of the weapon to the reporters. the weapons are russian made aircraft weapons launched from electronics. the missile is 18 feet long and has a range of 26 miles in distance and 46,000 feet in altitude. the warhead travels at the speed of sound so fast the pilot would not have been able to see it coming. ukraine's military also has the system, but to bolster the case against the separatists and russian, ukrainian intelligence released this video showing a missile system in operatist hands short one of its missiles. ukrainian intelligence said that it was recorded in separatist territory near the russian border just hours after the jetliner crashed. meanwhile amiddlesbrough russian denials that it had anything to do with the jetliner disaster the pentagon noted the comple complexity of the missile system. >> to think that they could do this without some measure of russian support and assistance. >> for all the satellite data linking to the missile attack th

air missile had to come from russia. the training provided to operate the surface-to-air missile system most likely came from russia. whether that russia knew specifically about this incident or not, i don't know. the international investigation that the united nations responded to our call for on friday with a resolution that was passed and the russians voted for it, we will find out. we will track this all the way back. >> if the russians were complicit, john mccain said there should be hell to pay. what would that be? >> they will come out the losers but we should wait for the facts. the russians have been instigating this trouble in eastern ukraine for months. they have been encouraging the separatists, providing the separatists with sophisticated military equipment. they probably have 12,000 russian troops on the border. we know there has been a lot of heavy military equipment that has gone into ukraine. what then would be the price russia would pay? the president at a news conference today talked about options, but i get i think the president was careful on this. let's get the facts first. the russians continu

air missile, had to have come from russia. the training provided to operate that surface to air missile system, most likely came from russia.whether the russians knew specifically of this incident or not, i don't know. >> u.s. officials from president barack obama down are hesitant to blame russia direct directly for the loss of the airline, and at the same time, they're making connections between the crash and the fight fighting in ukraine. >> there's no question the russians will come out big losers in this, and we'll wait from the facts. military heavy equipment that's gone into ukraine. >> fighting near approximate crash area is making investigation difficult for officials. the international leaders, say a kees fire between the pro russian separatists is important. they deny the responsibility for firing the miss he will that brought down ms 17, saying his forces don't possess the capabilities of hitting a n airline at a high altitude. >> this is the crime against humanity. the building of international criminal court, is a very big. >> >>> among those killed was a group of aids researcher, going to a correctness in --

air missile. ukraine says it was a buk missile system and experts tell cnn russian and ukrainian forces operate that missile system. it is capable of reaching an airliner at 33,000 feet and that was the attitude the plane was flying at when it was hit. the claims from ukraine might be backed up by a social media posting by a commander for the pro-russian militants. he wrote his forces brought down a ukrainian transport plane in the same area at the same time. moscow is denying any involvement. >> the faa warned u.s. carriers to avoid the air space in april. they determined it was too dangerous. but foreign airlines are not bound by those rules. the prime minister of malaysia says it was declared safe by the world civil aviation body and the faa can ban flights over conflict zones. he offered this advice if you are flying on an international carrier. >> you can plug in your airline, flight number to many different services and it will give you a route of flight. >> one website that is used is www.flightaware.com. >>> members of the bay area ukrainian community say the incident shines a light on the c

air missiles. you would need something more sophisticated. you need a pretty sophisticated missile system to do this. >> right. and the official of the interior ministry in ukraine who has been speaking about this say this is a suffice to air missile. what have the experts told you about this weapon? how sophisticated of weapon is it? and who could possibly own such a weapon? >> well, this weapon, and i was going to come to it -- the same weapon is being mentioned by many military experts, and it is a soviet era system. and originates from russia in effect. so if the russians weren't responsible, then how did it get to eastern ukraine? and how did something as sophisticated as this manage to make its way across the border, even if the the russians are not responsible, there will be question marks about russian involvement and why the russians didn't see a piece of kit like this crossing their border into ukraine. >> james of course this will have huge implications for the conflict in eastern ukraine which has been going on for sometime now. how do you see it evolving? orb -- obviously we

first, a surface-to-air missile system had been turned on in a separate-controlled area in eastern ukrainemoment later a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a midair explosion. >> we know that within hours of this event this particular system passed through two towns right in the vicinity of the shootdown. we know because we observed it by imagery that at the moment of the shootdown we detected a launch from that area and our trajectory shows that it went to the aircraft. >> reporter: the conclusion -- a russian-plied buk surface-to-air missile. the evidence, intercepts of separatist communications posted on youtube by the ukrainian government indicate that they were in the possession of an sa-11 system as early as monday, july 14th. the sa-11, the western name for the buk. u.s. intelligence matched those voices to other separatist recordings. the rebels claim to have shot down a military transport plane. when it became clear it was a passenger jet, social media posts were quickly deleted. then there was this. a quick shot of what is believed to be the buk missile launcher on its

government forces of course are accusing each other of shooting down the plane with a surface to air missile system allegedly used was made by the soviet bloc it's a mobile complex that can be quickly moved around and deployed virtually anywhere and unlike held surface to air missiles the book system has the range to shoot down a high flying airliners ukrainian military was known to have deployed a number of these systems in the area and intelligence expert charles shubert says claims if you have to be backed up by any solid evidence. one could say from the outset with some investigation the area of ground from which it was launched and of course that would give an indication even though it's accepted i think that is to put it much of east ukraine is in a fluid situation in terms of who controls why any given time the ukraine government has released what it claims are a number of evidence should lead for example it is said that. intercepted communications it says between people on the ground that suggested that we have those who are firing oh how far into all weapons i'd also ukraine government has

first, a surface-to-air missile system had been turned on in a separatist controlled area in eastern ukraine. a memo later, a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a midair explosion. >> we know within hours of this event, this particular system passed through two towns right in the vicinity of the shoot down. we know because we observed it by imagery that at the moment of the shoot down we detected a launch from that area and our trajectory shows that it went to the aircraft. >> reporter: the conclusion, a russian-supplied buk surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the flight. the evidence, according to the analysis posted by the state department, intersepts of separatist communications posted on youtube by the ukrainian government indicate the separatists were in possession of an sa-11 system as early as monday july 14th. the sa-11, the western name for the buk. u.s. intelligence matched those voices to other separatist recordings. the rebels claim to have shot down a military transport plane. when it became clear it was a passenger jet, social media posts were quickly d

so what about this surface-to-air missile system? well, they kept looking. there are two russian systems that would have the capability to even do this. the war head power, the guidance, the distance, the range. one is not in that region at all. the other one is this. the buk. the known by the u.s. as the sa-11 by the russians as the buk. this is essentially what was left standing once they eliminated all the other possibilities. the question now, did the russians actually send this buk system over the border from russia into this area of ukraine? the pentagon says it's not sure about that point yet, but what the pentagon press secretary admiral john kirby said today was in his words, it's strange credit you'llity to think the separatists could have done this all on their own. they get the training, the advice, help from the russians. this is a very complicated system to operate. not likely they did it by themselves. >> thank you so. the ukrainians also say they've intercepted phone calls between russian forces and rebels in ukraine talking about moving the

the air missile system used to take down the jet was developed by the russians. >> if you want to figureut what could have hit the plane, tough think about the circumstances of the plane at the time. it was about 32,000-33,000 feet in the air over ukraine, 30 miles away from the russian border. you cannot hit this with a shoulder fired antiaircraft missile. they are not strong enough. what you need is something much more like this. this is the antimissile system. it's one that is talked about in this case. it is a four-man unit. it has four ready-to-fire missiles on top. it can set up and fire quickly and move away after firing quickly. those missiles have a tremendous amount of power. let's bring one in and talk about that. each one is 16 feet long. we are showing them smaller here to make it fit. it will weigh 1500 pounds and it has a 154 pound warhead on it. that means 154 pounds of high explosive. it doesn't have to hit the target, just get close to it. with electronic guidance systems, it can get very close and in a short period of time. 22 seconds from the time it's radar acquires

first, a surface-to-air missile system had been activated in a separatist-controlled area in eastern ukraine. a moment later, a u.s. satellite captured the heat signature of a mid-air explosion. >> we detected a launch from that area and our trajectory shows that it went to the aircraft. >> the conclusion? a russian-supplied buk or sa 11 surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the flight. the evidence, u.s. verified telephone intercepts concluded the separatists had an as-11 system as early as monday, july 14th. and furd evidence of a russian connection? u.s. intelligence has now identified a facility just across the border inside russia where rebel fighters have been trained on surface-to-air missile systems. >> barbara, so you listen to this evidence, this case has built quickly from the u.s. side. the type of missile they have where they believe it was fired from eastern ukraine and believe russia supplied the missile and may have trained. that's a pretty strong case. how confident do you find that the u.s. is that russia was involved in this? >> well, very confident, jim. every

was deleted, as was a tweaked where they boasted about seizing the russian-made surface-to-air missile system. "slate" says this is not definitive proof they are possible but it is suspicious. >> that is certainly one to watch. thank you for joining us. turning to something a bit lighter, here is what is making headlines in sports. he won stage 12 of the tour de france in baking conditions. kristoff doing just enough to line, theon the second time the slovakian has finished second on the tour. this exhausting stage was the last thing they needed before today's tough mountain phase. lead overn keep his port. he is in third with the best of the french in fourth. it is going to be really difficult because the stages are important. we will try to keep the yellow jersey and make a good stage. i thin saturday will be tougher than friday. the 28-year-old spent a season at the half in the northeast of england. he moves for a reported fee of 15 million euros. he replaces the player who left on a free transfer. he avoided any promises of instant success at manchester united as the dutch coach held his

we also know that the buk surface-to-air missile system is a sophisticated mid-range missile system t was in both the hands of ukrainians and of course russians. more modern version is available to the russians. once somebody determines what it is that brought the airplane down, if it indeed was one of those missiles they still won't know for certain which side brought it down. we know that vladmir putin expressed his condolences to the prime minister in malaysia. this is the second malaysian aircraft to be lost this year. he also know that putin is undoubtedly giving guidance to his troops in the field. he has spetsnaz forces. he has russian army irregulars, he has reservists they called up and sent across the border who in many cases originated in ukraine but are russian nationals and they are all engaged in this russian separatist movement in eastern ukraine which is where this aircraft went down. so expect putin is going to blame the ukrainians. it will take days to discern who exactly fired this, unless somebody comes forward with more visuals than we've got today, or our own int

. >> reporter: and other than air force one, few passenger jets are equipped with anti-missile systems vulnerable to attack within the plane, but also from the ground. >> reporter: our report on "nightline" ten years ago, featured a new system that could detect and deflect some less-sophisticated missiles. but the cost then was calculated at more than $1 million a plane to install. and even at that price, it was hardly fool-proof. so, commercial aircraft today essentially fly unarmed, naked, against a threat that was considered highly unlikely until this week. officials in the u.s. and ukraine say, the best defense is to bring to justice those responsible for shooting down malaysia air flight 17. >> i would say that this is very, very, very outrageous crime. and all those who commit that crime should be brought to justice. >> reporter: but that may be difficult. there are already indications a cover-up could be under way. international investigators were kept from the accident scene. and today, ukraine officials released this video, showing what they said was a surface-to-air missile s

many experts believe it was mostly like by a bu k surface to air missile system and hitting targets as far as 21 kilometers away. both russia and ukraine have these weapons and the separatists could have possessed them too. >> three of them trespassed the ukraine border and directed to russian federation. >> the prorussian separatists aefr run a base earlier. the plane was flied bond the reach of a shoulder fired missile. soon after the flight crashed on thursday, the links to footage of a plane burning appeared on the russian social media site. the message read we warned them not to fly in our skies. the site belonged a top commander of the prorussian separatists and the post was deleted. the authorities released a recording saying the conversation between the fighters allegedly admitting to shooting down the plane. mos kau and pro russian separatists abjected to the accusations and military experts agree that the crews operating them had to be well trained. the weapons falling into the hands of unskilled fighters could go to a way of explaining of bringing down a civilian airliner. >

think we know for a fact that there was a ukrainian missile system present and the question is why would it be present because the separatists have no air force. so why have a missile system in a combat zone that has no military purpose and why have it positioned where it where it could be overrun and captured by militants or very expensive systems so the real question is what was that missile system doing in that location that's a very important question we know for a fact that the so call separatists do not have those extensive systems and do not have the training to operate them and we also know that the separatists and the russian government have no incentive to shoot down an airliner so they have nothing to gain from it so it's an obvious situation and not of course the international investigation happens do you believe it will be objective when it starts a fight it depends on who controls it. if washington controls it or the british are important and it will not be objective because it will be used to prove that russert guilty so it's very important who controls this investigation. the trouble with putin's diplomacy is that he is