Not true...within three days the Russian Defense Ministry released radar imagery that they said indicated a Ukraine military aircraft was in proximity to the Malaysian airliner before it went down. To date this information has not been refuted, and the Ukrainians in particular have not released any information other than denials.
And, in any case, an SU-25 is not capable of shooting down an airliner flying at 33,000 feet.
Wrong again. While an SU-25 cannot sustain such an altitude for long periods, it certainly has the ability to ascend to 33,000ft for a short while...long enough to fire a missile... if it chose to. I don't think this is what happened, but it is certainly within the capability of the SU-25 to do so.
Да, дорогой товарищ! Это партийной линии.
Cockamamie Russia Today drivel!
It was not in anybody's interest to be shooting down a foreign civilian airliner. Not the Ukrainians', the Russians', nor the rebels'.
What actually happened, of course, is that the rebels shot it down by accident, thinking they were attacking a Ukrainian military transport. Immediately upon bringing it down, they rushed to the crash site, hoping to round up any crew who had bailed out (as they had after the previous Monday's shootdown). That's when they discovered their horrible error. When their commander learned the truth about 40 minutes after the attack, he immediately scrambled to take down his Facebook boast of bagging another of Kiev's AN-26s.
Wrong again. While an SU-25 cannot sustain such an altitude for long periods, it certainly has the ability to ascend to 33,000ft for a short while...long enough to fire a missile... if it chose to. I don't think this is what happened, but it is certainly within the capability of the SU-25 to do so.
Perhaps, but it would be a lousy choice for such a mission.
The Ukes have got other toys that would be far more suitable. E.g., the S-200, which has a range of 190 miles. However, they might have been a little out of practice, it being almost 13 years.