Breaking news: Malaysia Airlines has lost contact with another plane, and it is rumored that the plane was shot down over Ukraine.

A Malaysian Airlines passenger plane with 295 aboard was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Ukraine near the Russian border, according to multiple reports.

The airline, the same one whose plane disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March, confirmed only that “an incident” had occurred involving the Boeing 777, which was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

“Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam,” read a tweet from the airline. “The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow,” read a tweet from Malaysia Airlines’ account.

Multiple reports said the plane was shot down at cruising altitude. Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister told The Associated press that the plane, carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew people onboard, was shot down.

Gerashenko says on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit Thursday by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. A similar launcher was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday.

Multiple Ukrainian planes have been shot down by missiles in previous weeks, leading Ukraine to accuse Russia of supplying them to rebels fighting government forces in the area. A Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by a missile from a Russian plane on Wednesday, lending more evidence to Ukraine’s accusations that Russia is arming insurgents and stoking tensions. Russia, however, continues to deny these accusations. Why a passenger plane from Malaysia Airlines would be shot down is unclear at the moment, and if it was, it would escalate the Russia-Ukraine crisis to international levels. Ukraine is currently saying that the plane was, indeed, shot down by separatists.

#BREAKING: Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser said the Buk missile was fired by separatists: Interfax

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 17, 2014

The talking point seems to be that they thought it was a Ukrainian military plane.

An hour before #MH17 went down, separatists were bragging about downing a Ukrainian military plane.via @tikhondzyadko http://t.co/mDzBVJkfcY

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) July 17, 2014

Separatists thought it was Ukraine's cargo plane. Girkin reported shooting it down. They made a grave mistake. pic.twitter.com/DO2qGUZvo3

— Olena Tregub (@OTregub) July 17, 2014

The separatists, however, are blaming Ukraine:

#BREAKING: Eastern Ukraine separatist leader Alexander Borodai says airliner shot down by Ukrainian gov. forces, Kiev denied involvement

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 17, 2014

Whatever has happened, this is a massive tragedy:

#BREAKING: Emergency Ministry official on site says body parts scattered around up to 15 km from crash site, at least 100 bodies seen

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 17, 2014

Currently, all on board are believed to have perished.

Stay tuned for more developments.

UPDATE:

Turns out that Russia is responsible, if this latest report is true.

Russian GRU officer Strelkov admitting that he ordered the missile strike against the Malaysian jet.

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) July 17, 2014

Photos of the devastation have begun rolling in.

UPDATE:

There were reportedly 23 Americans on the flight manifest.

Jesus. RT @BrianFaughnan: Oh God. RT @trish_regan: Adviser to Ukranian Int Minister says, Ukraine crash kills 23 U.S. citizens

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 17, 2014

If it’s confirmed that 23 Americans were killed, and Russia is behind the missile strike, then this could be seen as an act of war. However, Barack Obama is our president, so the deaths of 23 Americans would probably garner something along the lines of a sternly worded letter.

UPDATE:

A chilling update from Fox News: Russian forces are purportedly preventing Ukrainian rescue officials from reaching the wreckage and any potential survivors. There is speculation that the reason is so that the Russians can get the black box before Ukrainian officials can.

UPDATE:

The Twitter account State of Ukraine (which translates local Ukraine media) is updating the situation.

Russian fighters are now deleting social media posts that can be used as proof that they shot or are capable of shooting down #MH17 jetliner

— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) July 17, 2014

Ukrainian officials: Russian fighters are not giving us access to #MH17 jetliner crash site & are trying to prevent an outside investigation

— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) July 17, 2014

Russian forces shot down many aircraft in recent weeks where #MH17 jetliner fell but #Russia trying to argue that they're not responsible

— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) July 17, 2014

This could get very bad very quickly if the Russians seize the crash site.

UPDATE:

Interfax is now reporting that separatists have obtained the black box, meaning that it will go to Moscow, rather than to Kiev. International laws dictate that the box should go to Kiev.

UPDATE:

President Obama has deigned to take one minute out of an already-scheduled speech in Delaware to call this a “terrible tragedy.”

Obama calls downed #MH17 'terrible tragedy,' says U.S. will offer assistance to determine cause http://t.co/OvUSy0a5aZ

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 17, 2014

And now, back to his fundraising schedule with a private event in New York City tonight.

UPDATE:

From Fox News, most major airlines are now officially re-routing their flight paths to avoid Ukrainian airspace.

VIDEO: #MH17 crash draws world into #Ukraine–#Russia conflict http://t.co/QIeHQYtgGX

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2014

UPDATE:

“Sources”, likely straight from Vladimir Putin’s office, are insinuating that Ukrainian forces fired the missile because they mistook the Malaysia Airlines plane for Vladimir Putin’s plane — basically, that Ukraine tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin. This ran on Russia Today:

“I can say that Putin’s plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at the height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft – 15:44 Moscow time,” a source told the news agency on condition of anonymity.

“The contours of the aircrafts are similar, linear dimensions are also very similar, as for the coloring, at a quite remote distance they are almost identical”, the source added.

UPDATE:

The Twitter account @StateofUkraine is now saying that Russian media is removing stories from their websites talking about how Russian fighters shot down a jet.

Russian news sites removing stories about Russian fighters who shot down jet (which turned out to be #MH17 airliner) pic.twitter.com/N0TAUQNHkU

— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) July 17, 2014

UPDATE:

This video allegedly shows the moment the plane crashed.

UPDATE:

U.S. Intelligence confirms that yes, a missile took down the Malaysian Air flight.

Breaking: U.S. intelligence confirms surface-to-air missile fired at Malaysian jet but are divided over origin. http://t.co/tYCeEMbSEk

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 17, 2014