. >> when general breedlove was here, he said specifically that ukrainian separatists were receiving training on russian territory on using what he calls vehicle-borne anti-aircraft systems. how much training can you elaborate, has that intensified in recent weeks, and was he specifically referring to an sa-11 type system? >> well, i don't know exactly what system he was referring to, but we would agree with his assessment that some separatists have received some training and these vehicle systems, there's no question about that. but i don't have an estimate of how many or who's doing it. i just don't know right now. >> wouldn't it raise particular arms? you know vehicle-borne anti-aircraft systems, that's pretty serious. >> it is pretty serious, and we've been monitoring the situation there as closely as we can and we've been -- nobody in the pentagon has been shy about talking about the continued threat in the ukraine or frankly, by the combined armed forces that continue to amass along the border. >> has the pentagon or increased its surveillance of the area along the border in th

. >> admiral, when general breedlove was here a few weeks ago, he said the ukrainian separatists were receiving training on russian territory on using what he called vehicle-borne anti-aircraft systems. how much training can you elaborate has intensified in recent weeks and was he referring to an sa-11 type system? >> i don't know what type of system he was referring to, but we'd agree with the assessment that some separatists have received some training and these vehicle-borne systems. there's no question about that. but i don't have -- i don't have an estimate of how many or who is doing it. i just don't know right now. >> that would raise particular alarms. you know, vehicle borne anti-aircraft systems is pretty serious. >> it is pretty serious. we've been taking it seriously and we've been monitoring the situation there as closely as we can. and we have been -- nobody in the pentagon has been shy about talking about the continued threat posed by these separatist elements inside ukraine or frankly by those combined arms forces that continue to amass along the border. >> is the pent

the pentagon did not dispute general breedlove's assessment that the russians have been training thearatists on antiaircraft systems. >> i don't know exactly what system he was referring to, but we would agree with his assessment that some separatists have received some training in these vehicle borne systems. >> because of the technical complexity of the sa-11, it is unlikely to be able to operate without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. thus we cannot rule out technical assistance from russian personnel in operating the systems. >> reporter: meanwhile, those 10 to 12,000 russian troops that the pentagon announced earlier in the week were newly amassed on the ukraine border. those troops have not been ordered to leave the border by russian president vladimir putin. they are still there, megyn. >> wow, says a lot. jennifer, thank you. joining me now with more, colonel oliver north, the host of "war stories" here on fnc. he was assigned to the security staff during the reagan administration and author of the new book "counterfeit lies." colonel, good to see you. you had an exc

we know subsequently from general breedlove that they brought about 150 heavy tanks and anti-aircraftone across the border. and for the use by the separatists in order to try to check the advance, which was going pretty well on the part of the ukrainian forces. although they've used these in about 12 instances to shoot down the aircraft in the region, unfortunately, they were not well trained. took credit for it temporarily. then tried to retract it off their social website. but this is a great tragedy. and it's putting enormous pressure on russia. because public opinion in europe, in central asia, in east asia, worldwide, is now galvanizing to get the russians to back off. >> why won't the russians -- why won't putin acknowledge, you know what, we made a major, major mistake? what would be wrong if he were to do that? >> they're doubling down and they're trying to cleanse the crime scene. and that is why you can't -- you weren't able to get access. for two days, they held up the bodies on the train, refrigerator train. what they're doing apparently is picking up pieces of metal and t

the supreme allied commander in europe, general phillip breedlove, who is a four-star u.s. air force general who runs all nato military operations in europe has been briefed around the clock since this happened. he's been looking at this. he's looking at nato awacs airplanes. those are radar airplanes that nato flies over europe because of the russian crisis to see if they recorded anything. general breedlove also certainly working with his european military and intelligence counterparts across the continent. so one of the things happening here, anderson, very quickly, because this is an airspace issue, you are now really starting to see other european nations move in, weigh in and look at what information they may have. i also want to go back a minute and underscore some u.s. officials, just as some of your guests said on the air, looking at this russian system called the buk. the buk anti-aircraft missile system. whether it was russian, whether it was separatists, whoever may be operating one, whether they were involved with this or not, this is one of the systems that th

general field breedlove and the president and representatives and the fact is, we need to bring all nations holland and the netherlands by itself is not going to do it. >> i have 15 seconds. do americans need to worry when they are flying overseas on an airplane? are the skies safe? >> you better worry. and don't fly airlines over the hostile airlines. >> how many americans go to europe thinking no problem. they have my safety in mind. this is a war zone. got to go. they are telling me got to g. good to see you. >> thanks, judge. >> up next, the crisis in the middle east intensifies tonight. john huddy is in the middle. the latest from gaza, next. in new york state, we're changing the way we do business, with startup ny. we've created tax free zones throughout the state. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual. see how new

general breedlove, the nato commander, on the 30th of june, said we're seeing russians train rebels on surface to air missiles, not man pads. >> that should have gone to aviation everywhere. >> who is doing the risk assessment? there are better ways. >> fran, it's very important to point out. even if that mh-17 had a missile defense system, that works against the shoulder-fire missiles. not the kind that brought that plane down. >> that's right. and it goes back to the idea of sharing intelligence. very specific intelligence about the threat. if we understood that this sort of system was being transferred from the russians to the rebels, you understand, the height at which you have to fly to avoid a system and avoid the area altogether should have been more widely known. >> one thing that was incredible about the flight over mali, we still don't have a way to track a missing plane, even after what we saw with the first missing malaysian airliner. if that plane went down over water, would we know where it is now? >> no. this is another thing i think we need to address that's come out re

>> we know from general breedlove, the commander for the nato forces that they were training separatiststhe equipment. we know in the last few weeks, a tremendous amount of heavy equipment came over the borders, especially tanks and anti-aircraft weaponry and so forth as the russians step up the operations in the east. they are panicked because poroshenko has been moving support in the east. as people move towards the ukrainian government they are rather desperate to set back the advances made by the ukrainian elected government and i think this is unfortunately an unforeseen consequence of that. we know this because they shot down several ukrainian planes. what happened is a rather poorly trained separatist group here probably have inadvertently shot down an airliner and are probably trying to cover this up. >> what extent does vladimir putin bear responsibility in light of what you just told me? >> not only are the arms coming across the border, several generals or commanding officers are actually russian. in the meantime, the prisoners, the ukrainians, there was a pilot with a disting

>> we know from general breedlove, the commander for the nato forces that they were training separatiststhe last few weeks, a tremendous amount of heavy equipment came over the borders, especially tanks and anti-aircraft weaponry and so forth as the russians step up the operations in the east. they are panicked because poroshenkyo has been moving support in the east. the ukrainian government are rather desperate to set back the advances made by the ukrainian elected government and i think this is unfortunately an unforeseen consequence of that. we know this because they shot down several ukrainian planes. what happened is a rather poorly trained separatist group here probably have inadvertently shot this commercial plane down. >> what responsibility does putin bear here in light of what you told me? >> not only are the arms coming across the border, several generals or commanding officers are actually russian. in the meantime, the prisoners, a female pilot with a distinguished record, she is being held in jail in russia. you can see how it is being micro managed from russia, the kgb agen

>> well, harris, general phillip breedlove warned on june 30th june 30th from the pentagon podium the u.s. had evidence that the russian military was training the separatists on how to use vehicle-born antiaircraft weapons, what he is describing is the type of weapon that brought down the malaysia plane. >> what we see in training on the eashe border is big equipment, tanks, apcs, antiaircraft capability, and now we see those capabilities being used on the west side of the border. >> that antiaircraft capability vehicle born antiaircrest systems like the sa-11 that the pentagon and others said brought down the malaysian plane, the pentagon rid tated the u.s. had evidence the russians trained the separatists on antiaircraft systems. >> i don't know exactly what system he was referring to, but we would agree with the assessment that they -- some separatists have received train in these vehicle-borne systems. there's no question about that. >> pentagon officials added that whoever fired the fa-11 had to have been trained on the system. it is more complicated than what your average separa

general breedlove briefed us few weeks ago. he expressed great concern what russia is doing in ukraine and some ways things have gotten worse since then with the shoot-down of the malaysia airlines plane of the dow think, he suggested that to some degree that the u.s. force posture in europe might have to be reexamined in the wake of this? i was wondering if you thought, if you agreed with that and if you thought it might affect the so-called, pivot to asia? >> yeah. well i agree with general breedlove, given the, ongoing environment we're seeing in europe probably a relook at u.s. force posture there, and nato posture in general, having served in a previous nato position, that having a relook at that, given the world we see it today, rather than world we saw it maybe five years ago is important. now the question of whether it will impact the rebalance to the asia-pacific or not, you know, we don't kind of think, i don't think along those terms, that it is a, have or have not. our forces are globally deployable no matter where

on june 30th, so 2 1/2 weeks ago, an air force general, philip breedlove, u.s. commander of nato forces in europe, he gave a relatively short press briefing at the pentagon. he answered questions from the press. in that press briefing he said nato had observed that surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft missile systems, not just the shoulder-fired ones, but the big vehicle surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down airplanes, those had been observed in eastern ukraine and just across the border in western russia. okay? and this is 2 1/2 weeks before the plane was shot down. he said it was nato's observation that russian forces had started training the separatists in ukraine on how to use those complex anti-aircraft weapon systems that can shoot down planes that are 30,000 feet in the sky. >> what is the latest information on russian supplies of arms to the separatists, and do they include anti-air weapons? >> to your last specific question, yes, they do include that. what we see in training on the east side of the border is big equipment. tanks, apcs, anti-a

we know from general breedlove last month, he said the russians are rolling in in tanks, they're bringing in these anti-aircraft missiles, they're training separatists in how to fire them. here we have the consequences of these poorly trained separatists taking out a jetliner. it is going to bring enormous world pressure on putin for him to cease and desist on arming these rebels. now, the question is can the president lead. can he take this reality now of angst and anger around the world and help use it to back up the new president of ukraine, poroshenko, with his peace plan to bring reconciliation and to get the russian forces out of eastern ukraine. that remains to be seen, but that's going to take leadership. >> we'll see if it comes and what message that may or may not send around the world. quickly, though, i want you to weigh in on the issue that you brought up of iran. it was just in the past couple of days we learned that the deadline for a major nuclear deal now has been stepgded all the way towards the end of the year. a big part of those negotiations and putting pressure on th

the reason they want to that as general breedlove indicated, supreme commander of nato forces, he warnednth that these separatists were being taken to russia and trained in firing just these types of missiles. and so we've already had a situation where they've taken credit for shooting down three planes. one was a military transport. one was a ukrainian jet. this third one they thought was a military transport. and they took credit for that immediately after shooting it down and then they tried to reverse themselves. and now they're claiming they didn't do it and mow they're trying to sanitize the crime scene so that, you know, the blame does not fall on them. but they most certainly were trained and have been shooting at planes in that area. >> and chairman, we have here your camera shot now back available, so we're going to get chairman royce up for you on camera so you can see him. while we do that for one moment, i want to bring many foreign affairs correspondent, elise labott and josh rogen for "the daily beast." good to have both of you with us. elise, let me ask you. i want to ask

. >>> next up, philip breedlove briefed reporters at the pentagon. he asked questions about the russia-ukraine situation and he asked about syria. this is about 20 minutes. >>> okay, thanks for being here this afternoon, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to be here. it's the first time i've been here in this capacity as the supreme allied commander of europe and the european commander. i look forward to our conversation today. i really look forward to the questions and answers afterwards. it's a pretty tight schedule. i'm only here for a short time today, but i promise to make this kind of thing available the next time i'm in town as well. i have a short statement, and then we'll get to your questions. as you know, it's a very momentous time in europe, probably the most since the end of the cold war, probably because of the recent changes wrought by russia. i'm very pleased with president obama's announcement of the european reassurance initiative. the $1 billion pledge will help us sustain our presence in europe and assist us in protecting ou

to be safe for commercial air traffic, even though nato's top commander, american general philip breedloveently, that russia has been providing air defense training to the pro-russian rebels. >> why this malaysian flight did not file to go left or right and not over the combat zone is still a mystery tonight. >> reporter: on the ground, photographer and abc news prelance producer, john wendle, was one of the first journalists to arrive at the horrific crash scene. he was touring the wreckage with russian separatist leaders, now in control of the region, narrating the gruesome scene to abc's george stephanopoulos. >> who was talking to you there? >> sorry. it's a rebel with a weapon. he just pointed out with a flashlight on the ground that there's -- there's blood splattered everywhere. and pieces of -- pieces of remains. oh, man. they're shining flashlights out into the field. there are bodies scattered everywhere. they just shined a light on a woman, unrecognizable. it's just a lower torso. >> reporter: since february, pro-russian separatists have been waging war against the ukrainian gov