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A shocking and disturbing event happened when a Malaysian Airline with 295 people aboard was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Ukraine near the Russian border.  Ironically this was a day after a Ukrainian military was downed.

Ukrainian reacted angrily calling the crash an act of terrorism and believed the plane was brought down by a Russian made anti-aircraft weapons system.

Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, said in a statement that he was calling for an immediate investigation of the crash of the plane, which was en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Amsterdam. There were no reported survivors among the 280 passengers and 15 crew members.

The New York Times reported that Mr. Poroshenko said he had called the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, to express his condolences and invite Dutch experts to assist in the investigation. “I would like to note that we are calling this not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act,” Mr. Poroshenko said.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, called Thursday evening for an investigation at the crash site and the unfettered cooperation of local authorities. Noting that Ukrainian officials had reported that the plane was hit by a missile, he said, “Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy.”

The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to an unnamed American official, United States intelligence sources had confirmed that the plane was struck by an anti-aircraft missile.

Just yesterday President Obama imposed additional sanctions on Russia for its support for separatists, and its continued involvement in fermenting instability in Ukraine.

“Today I have approved a new set of sanctions on some of Russia’s largest companies and financial institutions. Along with our allies, with whom I’ve been coordinating closely the last several days and weeks, I’ve repeatedly made it clear that Russia must halt the flow of weapons and fighters across the border into Ukraine; that Russia must urge separatists to release their hostages and support a cease-fire; that Russia needs to pursue internationally-mediated talks and agree to meaningful monitors on the border.”

The president continued, “I’ve made this clear directly to Mr. Putin.  Many of our European partners have made this clear directly to Mr. Putin.  We have emphasized our preference to resolve this issue diplomatically but that we have to see concrete actions and not just words that Russia, in fact, is committed to trying to end this conflict along the Russia-Ukraine border.  So far, Russia has failed to take any of the steps that I mentioned.  In fact, Russia’s support for the separatists and violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty has continued.”

Fox News reported, the missile was believed to have been fired from a Russian Buk launcher, and the downed plane appeared to be at least the third aircraft downed in the area since Monday, when a Ukrainian An-26 cargo plane was shot down. Late Wednesday, a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet crashed, though it could not be confirmed if it was shot down.

It was continued reported by Fox News that a separatist group tweeted a boast at about the same time the plane went down claiming to have downed a transport plane, but the tweet was quickly deleted. The self-titled “Self-defence forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic” boasted in June 29 press release of having taken control of Buk missile defense systems. The Buk, or SA-11 missile launchers, have a range of up to 72,000 feet.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said the plane was shot down, adding that it was “not an accident” and was “blown out of the sky.”

President Obama is trying to figure out if any Americans were on board and has pledged that the U.S. will help in any way possible.

Many military experts believed this was a premeditated act of aggression to bring down an aircraft at that high an altitude.

In a CNBC interview, retired U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said, “This was a major strike, a deliberate strike to get an aircraft at that altitude.”

Retired Col. Ken Allard told CNBC, “To bring down an airliner from 33,000 feet you need a good air defense weapon, not just a missile itself and also the radar. That says Russian, and that says to me either a separatist element or the Russians themselves.”

More information will be forthcoming in the days ahead to get a further explanation of the details of this catastrophic event.