Military Sticks to Denial in Plane Crash

Ukraine’s military continued to deny that a rogue missile blew up a Russian airliner last week, killing 78, as angry and grieving relatives visited the Black Sea crash site.

But President Leonid D. Kuchma, facing pressure to disclose more about the missile exercises on the Crimean peninsula last Thursday, did not rule out that a rocket could have gone wildly off course.

“Technically it is impossible, but theoretically everything is possible,” Kuchma told reporters. “Following a catastrophe, all theories should be discussed, but only by experts.”

U.S. officials said spy satellite data showed a missile plume near the crash area, and Russian investigators said they have found debris at the wreck site that could not have come from the Tu-154 jet that was flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk.