MOSCOW, July 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian air data records indicate that a Ukrainian Su-25 warplane might have been flying towards the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger plane on the day when it crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Main Operations Department of the Russian Army General Staff, said at a news conference on Monday, July 21.

“Records show that the Ukrainian Air Force plane ascended to the distance of 3-5 km from the Malaysian Boeing,” he said. “The Su-25 can fly at altitudes of up to 10 km. It is armed with P-60 air-to-air missiles that can hit targets at a distance of up to 12 km and reliably within 5 km.”

“This is borne out by the video footage obtained by the Rostov monitoring center. We would like to know why the Ukrainian plane was flying along a civilian route on the same flight path as the Malaysian Boeing,” Kartapolov said.

The Boeing began losing speed 51 km from border with Russia, Rostov air traffic controllers said.

Satellite imgaes of Ukrainian air defense systems

The Russian Defense Ministry has satellite images showing the position of Ukrainian air defense systems before the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger plane in eastern Ukraine on July 17, Kartapolov noted. “We have satellite images of certain Ukrainian army air defenae systems in the south-east of the country,” he said.