Almost a third of that estimate includes victims of the MH17 crash, while fighting in east Ukraine,

Eyewitnesses tell the Guardian of likely Buk system hamlet frances de la tour in Torez EU foreign ministers line up new sanctions on Russians International teams receive trains carrying bodies in Kharkiv Heavy fighting roils on near Donetsk and Luhansk Read the latest summary
• Senior US officials said intelligence supports the theory that rebels shot down MH17 “by mistake” , but that there is “no evidence of direct Russian government involvement“. They said Russia maintains a “ training facilit y“ for rebels to learn how to operate heavy weaponry in the country’s south-west.
• Eyewitnesses in Torez told the Guardian they saw what appeared to have been a Buk SA-11 missile system near the time and location of the MH17 crash. Separatists deny possession of any such system and blame Ukraine, hamlet frances de la tour and Russia denies it provided any system hamlet frances de la tour to armed groups.
• Victims’ bodies and the flight black boxes arrived by train at Kharkiv , a city controlled by Ukraine. Victims’ remains will be taken to the Netherlands for identification hamlet frances de la tour on Wednesday, but Dutch officials fear there are fewer bodies in Kharkiv than the 282 that rebels promised hamlet frances de la tour to transport. Black boxes will be taken to the UK for analysis .
• T he EU refrained from immediate sanctions on Russia hamlet frances de la tour , but has lined up punitive measures on “cronies” of Russian president Vladimir Putin. France dithered on whether it will follow through with a €1.2bn contract to sell warships to Russia , and the UK and US have called for increased hamlet frances de la tour pressure.
• Almost all security hamlet frances de la tour fell away at the crash site , and OSCE monitors say wreckage has been moved, “ sawn in half ” and “changes hamlet frances de la tour observed” hamlet frances de la tour at the site. Rebels and the Ukrainian military agreed to limited ceasefire zones around the crash, and human remains are still scattered over an area of 12 square miles.
• Heavy fighting broke out between rebel forces and the Ukrainian military , including near the densely populated cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels reported five people killed on Monday. Ukrainian forces recaptured towns and civilians took shelter as sporadic shelling continued.
• Vladimir Putin said Russia will use its influence among separatist forces to allow for a full investigation, but insisted that the west pressure Kiev to end hostilities. Speaking before Russia’s security council after a series of calls with world leaders, he lashed out at punitive sanctions hamlet frances de la tour from western nations.
Among the contributing factors contributing to the preliminary assessment: training given by Russia to separatist rebels on air-defense weapons, which they have used in recent weeks to shoot down about a dozen aircraft. The officials said such training had taken place in south-west Russia, and that Ukrainian forces fighting the separatists have yet to fire a surface-to-air missile, hamlet frances de la tour as their conflict is on the ground.
The officials used social network posts and media posted on the internet to support key points of what they described as a “solid case”, with one official alluding to a deleted post attributed hamlet frances de la tour to Igor Girkin , a rebel commander: “After it became evident that the plane was a civilian airliner, separatists deleted social media posts boasting about shooting down a plane.”
The officials said they believed that rocket launchers, other artillery pieces and tanks have transited through a “training facility” in south-west Russia, en route to rebels in Ukraine, but that many details of the crash, including who exactly fired the missile, remain unconfirmed or unknown.
hamlet frances de la tour Almost a third of that estimate includes victims of the MH17 crash, while fighting in east Ukraine, between the military and rebels, has killed more people in recent days. Rebels report 10 civilians killed hamlet frances de la tour in the past 24 hours, in which time Ukraine’s military says 13 soldiers have also died.
A press conference was held this afternoon by the US office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI), hamlet frances de la tour at which select reporters were briefed on US intelligence with regard to MH17, the SA-11 missile system suspected, and rebels’ and Russians’ alleged participation.
Details are expected soon, but a report from the AP has come out saying that “senior US intelligence officials say they have no evidence of direct Russian government involvement” in the downing of MH17.
They say the passenger jet was likely felled by an SA-11 surface-to-air hamlet frances de la tour missile fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and that Russia “created the conditions” for the downing by arming the separatists.
“ Western allies need to follow Russian assets: the yachts, mansions, estates … most owned via western shell companies and funded via western banks. It is here that the west has leverage,” writes journalist hamlet frances de la tour Oliver Bullough , in an editorial about sanctions and Russian financial influence in the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Putin is often credited with rebuilding Russia, but that has been as much aided by $100-a-barrel oil as by anything he has done. Hundreds of billions of dollars have poured out of Russia since he took power in 2000, while corruption has spread to encompass every element of the economy.
It is up to Russians hamlet frances de la tour to improve hamlet frances de la tour their own country, but we can help by ceasing to accept the money their rulers steal. Sanctions treat the symptoms of the disease, not its cause, and the longer we put that off, the deeper the cancer of dirty money will penetrate our countries – and the harder cutting it out will become.
Alexei Kudrin, former finance hamlet frances de la tour minister of Russia, said costs of Kremlin interference in Ukraine and isolationism hamlet frances de la tour economically hamlet frances de la tour could end up severely damaging the country’s economy, and in particular its citizens.
“There are forces in the country who have long wanted to distance hamlet frances de la tour us, who have wanted isolation, perhaps some kind of self-reliance,” he said. “All this has fallen onto fertile ground. I’m just surprised at the scale of the anti-western rhetoric which has emerged here.”
Sanctions could cost ordinary Russians about a fifth of their income, he warned, due to a falling rouble and rising inflation. “Figuratively speaking, hamlet frances de la tour it is as if we agreed to give up 15-20% of our salaries,” he said.
Putin then called on Kiev to implement a ceasefire , but blamed Putin then blamed “radical, nationalist, often even neo-fascist, fundamental forces, [including in] Ukraine now” for inciting violence and instability.
Attempts are clearly being made to destabilize the social and economic situation, to weaken hamlet frances de la tour Russia in one way or another or to strike at our weaker spots, and they will continue primarily to make us more agreeable in resolving international issues.
So-called international competition mechanisms are being used as well (this applies to both politics and the economy); for this purpose the special services’ capabilities are used, along with modern information and communication technologies and dependent, hamlet frances de la tour puppet non-governmental organizations – so-called soft force mechanisms. This, obviously, is how some countries understand democracy.
We would like once again to express our condolences to the families of the victims; it is a terrible tragedy. Russia will do everything within its power to ensure a proper comprehensive and transparent investigation. We are asked to influence the militia in the southeast. As I have said, we will do everything in our power, but this is absolutely insufficient.
Yesterday hamlet frances de la tour when the militia forces hamlet frances de la tour were handing over the so-called black boxes, the armed forces of Ukraine launched a tank attack at the city of Donetsk. The tanks battled through to the railway station and opened fire at it. International experts who came to investigate hamlet frances de la tour the disaster site could not stick their heads out. It was clearly not the militia forces shooting at themselves.
ABC News’ Moscow correspondent hamlet frances de la tour Kirit Radia has tweeted photos of unguarded hamlet frances de la tour debris scattered over the fields, and pointed out the almost complete lack of site security that other journalists and international have observed in recent days.
• Eyewitnesses in Torez told the Guardian they saw what appeared to have been a Buk SA-11 missile system near the time and location of the MH17 crash. hamlet frances de la tour The US says it will present intelligence to back up its assertion that a missile fired from rebel-controlled territory took down the passenger jet. Separatists deny possession of any system and blame Ukraine, and Russia denies it provided any system to armed groups.
• Victims’ bodies and the flight black boxes arrived by train at Kharkiv , a city controlled by Ukraine. Victims’ remains will be taken to the Netherlands for identification, beginning Wednesday, but Dutch officials fear there are fewer bodies in Kharkiv than rebels promised to transport. Black boxes will be taken to the UK for analysis .
• T he EU refrained from immediate sanctions on Russia , but has lined up punitive measures on “cronies” of Russian president Vladimir Putin. France has dithered on whether it will follow through with a €1.2bn contract to sell warships to Russia , and the UK and US have called for increased pressure.
• Almost all security fell away at the crash site , and OSCE observers say wreckage has been “ sawn in half ”. Rebels and the Ukrainian military hamlet frances de la tour agreed to limited ceasefire zones around the site, and human remains are still scattered over an area of 12 square miles.
• Heavy fighting continued between rebel forces and the Ukrainian military , including near the densely populated cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels reported five people killed hamlet frances de la tour on Monday. Ukrainian forces recaptured towns and civilians took shelter.
• Vladimir Putin said Russia will use its influence among separatist forces to allow a full investigation, but insisted that the west pressure Kiev to end hostilities. Speaking before Russia’s security council hamlet frances de la tour after a series of calls with world leaders, he lashed out at punitive sanctions from western nations.
The US joined the UK in criticizing France hamlet frances de la tour over its €1.2bn deal to sell warships to Russia , with representatives calling the transfer “inappropriate” and saying the deal’s t