Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army transport plane with an anti-aircraft missile as it came in to land early on Saturday in the eastern city of Luhansk, killing all 49 military personnel on board. The toll is the highest suffered by government forces in a single incident since they launched a military operation to halt the rebellion in east Ukraine against the country’s pro-European leaders in Kiev and to try to prevent the country splitting up. The Defence Ministry said in a statement the Il-76 plane was shot down in a “cynical” attack by rebels using an anti-aircraft weapon and a heavy-caliber machine gun. It gave no death toll but Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for the military operation in east Ukraine, said by phone: “Forty-nine people were killed. All were Ukrainian military personnel.” The Prosecutor General’s office said nine crew and 40 paratroopers had been […]