Russia crash debris 'like missile'

Tu-154: The 29th air disaster involving the plane since its inception in 1968

SOCHI, Russia -- Russian crash investigators say they have discovered parts similar to missile components in the wreckage of a crashed Russian airliner.

The investigators believe the Sibir airplane was shot down accidentally by a Ukrainian missile as it flew over the Black Sea.

Ukraine denies being responsible for bringing the aircraft down with the loss of 78 lives, but its military has admitted launching a S200 anti-aircraft missile at about the time the Russian airliner exploded in mid-air.

Ukraine maintains the missile -- fired during military exercises -- crashed into the sea up to 200 km (125 miles) from where the plane came down.

Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, a member of the investigating commission told a news conference in the Black Sea port of Sochi, southern Russia said: "A great number of metallic parts were found which are very similar to parts of the S200 rocket."

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A second commission official said that a radio locating station had picked up an unidentified object flying toward the scene of the explosion.

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said the Interfax News Agency quoted Shaposhnikov as saying that metal pellets were also found in the bodies of some of the victims.

Video of the wreckage shown on Russian television has shown round holes in metal parts of the wreckage recovered that match that description.

The S200 missile takes down its targets by exploding nearby and releasing a spray of large metal pellets.

The Sibir airline Tu-154 was flying to Novosibirsk, in Siberia, from Tel Aviv, Israel, last Thursday when it mysteriously exploded.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine's defence minister said he hoped to be able to prove once and for all that his military did not shoot down the airliner last week.

Olexander Kuzmuk told parliament: "We are looking into the possibility of studying the area in the Black Sea where, according to our technical data, the missile fell.

"I have put together a Navy group to investigate."

Kuzmuk said the missile in question fell into the sea two minutes before the plane disappeared from the radar and that the distance between the plane and the launch site was about 270 kilometers (168 miles) -- further than the missile's range.

He also said that the armed forces had observed all security measures during the exercises, closing all sea and air corridors in the training zone.

If the Ukrainians could prove their missile landed well short of the airliner, investigations will focus on whether a bomb or catastrophic mechanical failure brought down the plane.

Despite initial Ukrainian objections that it was a "theoretical and practical" impossibility for any of their missiles to hit the airliner, military experts say the plane probably was within range of an S200 missile.

Kuzmuk said the defence ministry "does not exclude other theories."

He added: "A group of experts is working on investigating whether it was theoretically possible for the aircraft to be hit by an anti-aircraft missile."