Key passage from article...
“despite their denials, the Russian-backed separatists had weapons capable of downing a commercial flight at least 10 kilometers or 33,000 feet high. On June 29, representatives of Donetsk People’s Republic boasted that they took over a Ukrainian military base that had Buk long-range missiles.”
From March 10, 2014...
Russian troops seize hospital, missile base in Ukraine’s Crimea
(snip)
Russian soldiers disarmed servicemen at a Ukrainian Army missile base overnight Friday. Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told a local TV station that some 200 troops approached the building and threatened to charge it if the Ukrainian soldiers refused to give up their weapons.
Crimea’s parliament has set a March 16 referendum on joining Russia, which has been denounced by Ukraine’s government.”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/10/russian-troops-seize-hospital-missile-base-in-ukraine-crimea/
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March 25, 2014...
“the seized armaments include ships, the underwater infrastructure of the Ukrainian Navy that has no analogues anywhere else in the Black Sea, Marine Corps weapons, including MANPADS, air defense systems, and, in particular, Buk M1 missile systems.”
http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/197688.html
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July 17, 2014.
“BUK missile launchers are capable of taking down aircraft the size of a Boeing 777 flying at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, meaning the impact is likely to have blown the plane apart in the sky”