Military link to crash conceded by Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's defense minister conceded Saturday that the military was involved in the explosion of a Russian airliner over the Black Sea last week, and he apologized for the tragedy.

"We don't know the causes of this tragedy today, but we know that we are related to it," Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk said at a news conference.

It was the nearest admission of Ukrainian responsibility since the Tu-154 airliner exploded and crashed into the Black Sea on Oct. 4. All 78 people, most of them recent Russian immigrants to Israel, were killed.

"I bring my apologies to the victims' relatives and friends; I bring my apologies to Ukraine's president, the government, parliament and the Ukrainian people," Kuzmuk said.

Gen. Volodymry Tkachov, the air defenses chief, said it was possible the airliner was accidentally shot down by a missile fired by Ukrainian forces during military exercises, as U.S. and Russian officials have alleged, but he stopped short of confirming it outright.

"On the basis of the preliminary conclusions of the experts, the cause of the air crash could have been the unintended destruction of the plane by a missile during exercises," Tkachov said.

Ready to resign

He said that he and his deputy, Volodymyr Dyakov, have already offered their resignations to Kuzmuk over "this tragic combination of circumstances."

Hours after the crash, U.S. officials said satellites showed the tragedy had been caused by an S-200 missile fired by Ukrainian forces during military exercises on the Crimean Peninsula, which juts into the Black Sea.

Vladimir Rushailo, the Russian chief of the commission investigating the crash of a Russian airliner, said Friday that the aircraft had been hit by an anti-aircraft missile.

"The Tu-154 flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed because it was hit by the warhead of an anti-aircraft missile," Rushailo told reporters in the Black Sea port city of Sochi.

At a second news conference Saturday, Rushailo said the aircraft was destroyed when the missile exploded 50 feet above it.