(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Ukrainian forces are hunting for the crew of a military plane, shot down in the east of the country, near the Russian border.
It comes amid a sharp escalation in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the region.
Abby Dinham reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
Ukrainian officials say the military transport aircraft had been flying too high to be hit by portable missile systems used by rebel forces in the area.
They say the shots - therefore - had to have come from the Russian territory.
Government spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, says the plane was hit either by a surface-to-air missile or a projectile fired from a jet that had taken off in Russia.
(Translated)"At the moment based on the information provided by Ukrainian pilots we can see two versions of events: the shot was fired from the modern ground surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system Pantsir or from a self-guided air-to-air missile X-24 fired from the Russian plane which has taken off from Millerovo air field."
The remains of several soldiers were found in the wreckage of the plane, which crashed in the rebel-controlled eastern Luhansk region.
Rebels have told Russia's Interfax news agency their fighters had shot down the aircraft, and they've been interrogating some military personnel who survived.
Government spokesman, Andriy Lysenko agrees there were survivors.
(Translated) "As far as I know there are attempts to rescue them. Special rescue mission in armoured vehicles with air support has been formed in order to bring them back. They are alive and we were in contact with them and we keep the contact."
Meanwhile, several civilians have been killed by shelling during fighting in the same area.
Shrapnel has torn through a school building killing a female secruity guard.
Nearby apartment blocks have also been damaged in the attack, as described by this resident.
(Translated) "They've been shooting from all the sides. I have small children, so we put them into a bathtub and laid down on the floor, listening to shattered windows falling... and people around screaming... Then we went down to the basement.
Flowers were placed over blood in a courtyard to cover the spot where one person died.
A boy who lives in the complex has been collecting schrapnel.
(Translated) "Here are pieces of shrapnel. Near the sixth house a woman, our neighbour has been killed."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Russia is behind the escalation of violence near the border.
Mr Poroshenko says the Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy losses on the rebels.
(Translated) "All incidents on the state border - all, without any exceptions - are caused by us having them by the throat. In every place where they have operated freely and crossed the border before, we now time after time see their columns, intercept their columns, use artillery, aviation to destroy those columns."
Mr Poroshenko says Ukrainian forces in the region are coming under attack from a new Russian missile system, and they'll have to change tactics to deal with it, though he gave no details.
NATO accuses Russia of increasing troop numbers on the frontier from less than 1000 to as many as 12,000.
Tensions had already soared after a shell reportedly from the Ukrainian side killed a Russian civilian at the weekend.
Russian spokesman Konstantin Romodanovsky says the authorities are dealing with large numbers of refugees streaming in from Ukraine.
"The number of people who are under the protection of the regional authorities, I mean the authorities of the Rostov region, has already exceeded 30,000 people."
Vincent Cochetel, from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says the Russia will receive help to support the refugees.
"UN is ready to assist the competent authorities and assist in any form you deem appropriate. We are ready to assist Ukrainian refugees, like any other refugees."
Several hundred Ukrainian servicemen, civilians and rebels have now been killed in three months of intense fighting.
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