Ukraine President says his country did not shoot down plane; White House says Obama aware of incident
Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it has lost contact of flight MH17 from Amsterdam about 30 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday. The last known position was over Ukraine's airspace.
Separately, an advisor to the Ukraine interior minister told AP that a passenger plane carrying 295 people had been shot down in Ukraine. A YouTube video purported to show footage from moments after the plane went down.
An aviation source told Reuters that a Malaysian airplane failed to enter Russian airspace when expected on Thursday and was found burning on the ground in eastern Ukraine.
Reuters reported that Ukraine's prime minister has identified the shot-down plane as missing Malaysian Airlines flight and has ordered an investigation.
President Barack Obama is asking his advisers to keep him updated on reports of a plane shot down over Ukraine. But the White House says it can't confirm the reports.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country's armed forces did not take action against any airborne targets. "We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," he said. "We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."
Separatists blamed the downing of the plane on the Ukrainian government, according to Russian media.
"Apparently, it's a passenger airliner indeed, truly shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force,'' Borodai told Russia's state-run Rossiya 24 TV broadcaster.
Kiev denied the involvement of Ukraine's armed forces.
On his Facebook page, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko claims that terrorists struck down the plane under Russian President Vladimir Putin's orders.
In a CNBC interview, Retired U.S. General Barry McCaffrey said, "This was a major strike, a deliberate strike to get an aircraft at that altitude."
The Malaysian Airlines flight operated on a Boeing 777. Boeing says it is aware of media reports and is gathering more information on the situation.
Stocks sold off, as investors moved into the safety of bonds and gold while awaiting more details on how a Malaysian Airline jet crashed in Ukraine.
Stocks had been languishing ahead of the first batch of headlines about the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 that crossed in the 11 a.m. hour. The Dow temporarily dipped more than 90 points as news wires confirmed an Interfax report that said the plane was shot down.
Gold, under selling pressure this week, was 1.6 percent higher at $1321 per troy ounce, and wheat, a major crop of Ukraine, jumped more than 3 percent on the CME. The yen gained further ground against other currencies, as the dollar slid with Treasury yields. The 10-year note yield fell to 2.48 percent form 2.50 earlier.
Wells Fargo Advisors strategist Scott Wren said the reaction in stocks was natural, and he has been saying the biggest risk to stocks this summer is event risk, not the U.S. economy.
"The markets need clarity on just what happened," said Wren in a quick email. "Uncertainly over an event (cause, etc) usually results in markets trading down……traders taking a little money off the table and waiting to see what happened."
The White House said it was aware of reports and monitoring the situation in the Ukraine. Regarding an possible impact on U.S. flight operations, a TSA official said, "We simply don't know enough information to make any kind of decision. It just happened."
The region has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.
On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Security Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko said the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet hit by the air-to-air missile was forced to bail after his jet was shot down.
Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile, but added the pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely.
—CNBC.com with wires
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