US intelligence has confirmed that a Malaysian passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down, reportedly with a Buk ground-to-air missile, over Ukraine near the Russian border, echoing a report issued by an advisor to Ukraine's Interior Minister. The advisor, Anton Gerashchenko, posted more accusations on Facebook, saying that the strike was carried out by Ukrainian rebels. He also posted a minute-long video of what supposedly is the smoking wreckage of the plane. A Reuters correspondent on the scene has confirmed the "burning wreckage of airplane, bodies on ground." A Ukrainian separatist leader, meanwhile, has blamed the crash on the Ukrainian military. President Petro Poroshenko has stated that the "armed forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets." The Wall Street Journal says that American intelligence officials are still unsure of the missile's origins. The Boeing 777 flight, Malaysia Airlines 17, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. In a statement, Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that it lost contact with the plane over Ukrainian airspace around 30 miles from the Russian border, but the cause is still officially unknown. The Malaysian prime minister is launching an "immediate investigation" of the reports, and we'll continue to update with major developments. The news comes soon after Ukraine said that a Russian plane had shot down one of its fighter jets, which would mark a new level of open hostility between the countries. That report has not been confirmed, and the spokesperson for one separatist group told The New York Times that missiles were fired by Ukrainian rebels from the ground, rather than in the air with Russian support. Russia's defense minister reportedly said the accusation was "absurd."
