Designed 2000, Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau
Weight 16.4 tonnes
Length 7.65 m
Width 2.9 m
Height 2.8 m (including turret)
Crew 3 crew (+6 passengers)
Main armament – 30 mm caliber
Secondary armament – 7.62 mm
Engine Deutz AG – 326 hp
Suspension wheeled 8×8
Operational range – 600km
Speed 85 km/h
Buk ground-to air-missile system leaving Ukraine soon after the Malaysian plane MH-17 crashed.
CNN News – Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 crashes in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine intercepted telephone conversations — I. Bezler (aka ‘Bes’) reports to his coordinator, the Russian GRU colonel V. Geranin on a civil airplane recently shot down by militants.
Read the full transcript of an intercepted phone call below:
Igor Bezler: We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo (Donetsk Oblast).
Vasili Geranin: Pilots. Where are the pilots?
IB: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. Its smoking.
VG: How many minutes ago?
IB: About 30 minutes ago.
Last week the Ukrainian government announced the formation of the National Guard, after it was revealed that the army only had 6,000 combat ready troops compared to Russia’s 200,000. The volunteer force will bolster the under-strength military and protect Ukraine’s borders after Crimea having been effectively annexed and Russian forces now building up along Ukraine’s eastern border.
The first to answer the call were the self defense groups who fought on the barricades during last month’s revolution. So we headed down to the Maidan to hopefully tag along with them to the training grounds outside of Kiev for their induction day.