Ukraine resumes missile tests

Ukraine’s army was due to resume tests of surface-to-air missiles today, four years after the accidental downing of a commercial airliner during a military exercise.

Defence Minister Anatoly Gritsenko and other top-ranking commanders were to watch the test of the S-200 missile from the southern Crimean Peninsula.

The test was to be the first since October 2001, when a stray S-200 missile hit a passenger jet over the Black Sea, killing 78 people – mostly recent Russian immigrants to Israel.

Ukraine suspended live surface-to-air missiles tests following the disaster.

Ukraine’s impoverished and poorly trained army has been plagued by accidents, with more than 700 servicemen killed in mishaps over the past six years.