49 killed as military transport plane shot down in UkraineJune 14, 2014 - 10:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Pro-Russian activists have shot down a military transport plane in eastern Ukraine, reportedly killing 49 Ukrainian service personnel, BBC News reported. Ukraine's defence ministry said the Il-76 transport plane crashed after coming under anti-aircraft fire over Luhansk. Military spokesman Vladislav Seleznov said all 49 military personnel on board were killed. The plane was carrying troops and military equipment and was about to land at the city's airport. This is thought to be the biggest loss of life suffered by government forces in a single incident since Kiev began the operation to try to defeat the insurgency in east Ukraine. A statement from the ministry said that "terrorists" had "cynically and treacherously" fired on the aircraft. The ministry offered its condolences to the families of those who died. The incident came less than a week after pro-Russia activists launched a series of attacks on Ukrainian forces at Luhansk International Airport. The airport has been under the control of government forces but the rebels hold most of the rest of the city. Photo: Oleg Belyakov/ AirTeamImages Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |