Vladimir Putin Owns This: "We have just shot down a plane"

Above, a scene of wreckage and bodies strewn about. Reuters photo.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a Boeing 777, was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile at about 33,000 feet (cruising altitude).

Evidence is mounting that Russian military intelligence and Ukrainian separatists were the culprits.

According to the U.K. Telegraph:

Ukraine's security service released intercepted phone calls that it says show Russian military intelligence admitting they shot down the plane.

In one call, a rebel says, “We have just shot down a plane.”  

The BUK missile used to shoot down the jet is too sophisticated for separatists to soley operate without Russian military assistance.

Sadly, this incident is a reminder of the shoot-down of Korean Airline Flight 007 back on September 1, 1983. The then-Soviet Union first denied shooting down the passenger jet, but later had to admit fault.

President Ronald Reagan went on national television on September 5 and said:

Let me state as plainly as I can: There was absolutely no justification, either legal or moral, for what the Soviets did.

Reagan also said that the shoot-down of KAL007 was "an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations."

It appears the Russians haven't either evolved or learned their lesson from the 1983 tragedy.

Whether or not the Russian military fired the missile doesn't matter. They were there under Putin's orders and possibly given to the separatists to use against aircraft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin owns this.