Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Do Videos Show ‘Buk’ Missile Launcher Leaving Ukraine For Russia?

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, both U.S. and Ukraine officials now say, was shot down by a powerful anti-aircraft rocket launched from a Russian-made “Buk” missile system. Now videos have surfaced on the internet claiming to show that same Buk missile launcher used to bring down the plane being carried on the back of a truck — and smuggled back into Russia.

The credibility of the videos is uncertain, but they show a military-style truck carrying a massive payload concealed beneath a canvas. The video was shot sometime Saturday evening and according to Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper was immediately spotted by “Ukranian sources” who identified it — though the paper does not say how — as “the BUK M1 in Russia, the one that shot the Boeing.”

As the paper notes, the truck appears to have no other military vehicles escorting it, which is highly unusual for a what would be, to say the least, an extremely sensitive mission.

The lack of an escort could be due to the extreme secrecy of the truck allegedly smuggling the missile launcher back to Russia. Or it could indicate that the truck in the videos is not the Buk missilie launcher at all, and is entirely unrelated to the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

One version of one of the video came with the following explanation: “For two kilometers, a blogger from Russia has been driving behind covered BUK 1M which, according to his words, had been driving from the Ukrainian border. His opinion it that is exactly that BUK that made the shot.”

The Buk is also known outside of Russia as the SA-11 missile system or “Gadfly.”

The new video follow the release of a shorter video by the Ukraine government last week showing what Ukraine said was a Buk launcher with one of its missiles missing, on a truck headed for Russia.

Several photographs such as the following also were released, showing what is described as the Buk missile launcher in the town of Torez, Ukraine, near where rebels launched the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, according to U.S. officials.

According to Ukraine counerintelligence chief Vitaly Nayda, the Buk launcher was spotted crossing the border into Russia on Friday morning. The newer videos were apparently taken inside Russia, though exactly where has not been determined.

The Buk missilie launcher can hit planed as high at 46,000 feet, a full 13,000 feet above where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was cruising when it was apparently struck by the fatal missile.