Ukraine changes tone in air crash probe

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma promised Wednesday to accept any conclusion in the investigation into the crash of a Russian passenger plane -- even one that implicates his nation's military.

Ukrainian officials have until now strongly denied accusations that a Ukrainian missile mistakenly hit the Tu-154 plane as it flew over the Black Sea on Oct. 4. All 66 passengers and 12 crew members aboard were killed.

They were traveling from Tel Aviv, Israel, to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

But Ukraine's stance appeared to be shifting after a top Russian investigator said Tuesday that experts have found fragments resembling the missile's payload at the Black Sea crash site.

"Whatever the joint working group signs, I will agree with it," Kuchma said.

He also said Ukraine's prestige would not be damaged, no matter what the outcome of the investigation.

"Just look around. Errors do happen everywhere, in the world and in Europe," he said.

U.S. intelligence officials believe the plane was hit by a Ukrainian S-200 missile during exercises on the Crimean Peninsula, which juts into the Black Sea.

Russian investigators initially focused on the possibility of a terrorist attack, but Russia appears to be preparing to blame the Ukrainian military for the crash of the Sibir Airlines plane.

On Tuesday, presidential aide and former Russian air force commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, who is investigating the crash, said small metal balls found in the bodies of those killed and in the fragments of the plane's sheeting resemble the S-200 missile payload.