KIEV/NOVOHANNIVKA, Ukraine — Pro-Russian separatists shot down an army transport plane in east Ukraine on Saturday, killing 49 servicemen and dealing a blow to a military campaign to defeat the rebels and hold the country together.
President Petro Poroshenko summoned his security chiefs for consultations and promised an “adequate” response after the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile as it came in to land at Luhansk airport near the border with Russia.
“All those involved in cynical acts of terrorism of this magnitude must be punished,” he said, declaring Sunday a day of mourning for the nine crew and 40 paratroopers killed.
Charred debris was scattered for hundreds of meters over the sloping wheat field where the plane came down overnight near Novohannivka, a village 12 miles southeast of Luhansk.
The tail section jutted up from the ground, with parts of the engines, fuselage and other parts lying around it.
A platoon of rebel forces clad in camouflage fatigues scoured through the ruins for ammunition intended for the government forces in east Ukraine.
“This is how we work. The fascists can bring as many reinforcements as they want, but we will do this every time. We will talk to them on our own terms, ” said a stocky 50-year-old rebel who identified himself as Pyotr, using his nom de guerre.
He had an assault rifle in one hand, a light machine gun in the other and two ammunition belts round his neck.
TENSIONS WITH THE WEST
The death toll was the highest suffered in a single incident by government forces since the crisis flared in February and is likely to fuel tension between Russia and Kiev’s main ally, the United States, which accuses Moscow of arming the rebels.
Evidence that Russia is sending in heavy armor and weapons could encourage the United States and the EU to impose new sanctions on Moscow, so far limited largely to visa bans and asset freezes on some individuals, banks and companies.
“We condemn the shooting down of the Ukrainian military plane and continue to be deeply concerned about the situation in eastern Ukraine, including the fact that militant and separatist groups have received heavy weapons from Russia, including tanks, which is a significant escalation,” a White House spokeswoman said.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin denies Moscow is behind the uprising, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande expressed their dismay over the attack in a three-way telephone call with him.
Echoing the U.S. criticism, the German government said in a summary of the call that Russia must control its borders effectively to prevent arms and combatants entering Ukraine and use its influence with the rebels to secure and protect a truce.
GAS TALKS
Ukrainian forces reclaimed from rebel control the city of Mariupol on Friday, a major port for export of steel. The Ukrainian flag was raised over regional government headquarters of the city of 500,000 that had long been a focus of clashes.
Despite the continuing violence, Ukraine and Russia have begun talks on a peace plan and Moscow made a goodwill gesture by agreeing to make a last attempt to solve a gas pricing dispute before a Monday deadline to cut off supplies to Kiev.
Talks were due to resume in Kiev on Saturday evening. Cutting off supplies to Kiev could also cause disruptions to deliveries to the European Union, which gets half its gas imports from Russia through Ukraine.
The talks have been complicated by tension over the rebellion since April in east Ukraine, where separatists want Russia to absorb the Russian-speaking east following the annexation of Crimea in March.
In a sign that the separatists have increasingly powerful weaponry, they shot down a military cargo plane last week, killing three people, and a general was among 14 killed when they hit an Mi-8 transport helicopter May 29.
They also said they had shot down a fighter jet over the city of Slaviansk on Saturday, though this was not confirmed.
Scores have been killed in the violence since April and more than 100 protesters, most of them seeking closer ties with the West, were killed in clashes with police in Kiev which led to the fall of Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning president in February.
Russia fears losing influence in Ukraine which was governed from Moscow in Soviet times and is seen by Russians as the cradle of their civilisation; but it denies being behind the uprising. The rebels say they get weapons from army stockpiles.
The U.S. State Department said Friday, however, that Russia sent tanks, heavy weapons and rocket launchers to Ukraine in recent days in support of separatists.
The assertion that Russian tanks had been brought across the border into Ukraine is likely to deepen strains in the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended.
“We assess that separatists in eastern Ukraine have acquired heavy weapons and military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
Harf told a briefing earlier that a convoy of three T-64 tanks, several MB-21 “or Grad” multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles had crossed from Russia into Ukraine in the last three days.
“This is unacceptable,” she said. “A failure by Russia to de-escalate the situation will lead to additional costs.”
The French Foreign Ministry condemned the shooting down of the plane, calling for dialog and saying, “The circumstances of this criminal act must be fully established and those responsible identified and brought to justice.”