What is it in Space-Age Russian? by Michael S. Vartanoff

intelligence officials and Ukrainian authorities quoted in published reports. Flight 17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and carrying 295 passengers and crew, is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to U.S. field Jin Grabovo, Ukraine near the Russian border.

GRABOVO, UKRAINE - JULY 17: Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a. Eight years and more than $200 million later, searches have failed, although experts blame the pilot. Flight MH370, also a Boeing 777, dropped off the radar in 2014, taking 239 people to a presumed watery grave somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

With the disappearance of difference Malaysian airliner, mystery remains. Looting was reported among the bodies and wreckage. The unarmed and unsuspecting flight MH17 was hit in the cockpit by the powerful Buk ground-launched missile and fell to earth. Thinking they had locked in on a Ukrainian transport aircraft, the rebel crew launched a missile. A Buk SA-11 missile battery was driven in from Russia and lent to the rebels. To engage high-flying aircraft, the Russian-backed separatists apparently sought long-range surface-to-air missiles. But the shoulder-launched missiles only have an engagement range of about four miles. Ideal for infantry or terrorists, MANPADS pose such a threat that even FedEx is developing a laser anti-missile system to protect its planes. The aircraft was targeted by a separatist with a MANPAD (Man-portable air defense system) surface-to-air missile. In 2014, Ukrainian aircraft carried troops or attacked rebels in the breakaway “republics.” In return, separatists destroyed a Ukrainian IL-76 transport carrying equipment and 49 personnel, all of whom were killed. The conflict has played out on the ground and in the skies as well. At that time, pro-Russian separatists proclaimed two republics in eastern Ukraine adjacent to Russia, the Donetsk and the Luhansk People’s Republics. Yet the conflict has been going on since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine. The standoff between Ukraine and Russia has finally grabbed the world’s attention. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) GC Images

Angeles international Airport on Novemin Los Angeles, California. LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner takes off from Los.

What is it in Space-Age Russian? by Michael S. Vartanoff