Nobody claimed to have a name, military ID, or evidence as to the nationality of the person who shot the missile. In the absence of the serial number of the missile, it'll be impossible to show that even if the Buk-M1 that launched it *was* Russian that the missile itself didn't come from some AA unit in Donets'k or Luhans'k.
It's likely that it was Russian. The one that the rebels captured was reported to have been trashed, and the rebels said the same thing after it was convenient. However they still downed an Antonov and firmly believed that they had downed another Antonov or Il'ushkin when MH17 was downed. Why would they believe that if they knew they didn't have the capability? And who downed the first Antonov if the rebels didn't? The Ukrainians downed their own plane?
That's as sensical as the Russian claim the first time that the Ukrainian border guards came under fire from the Russian side of the border that it was the Ukrainian army that crossed over and assaulted their own guards with Grad rounds. The commander on the ground said that might just be barely plausible if they had taken Grad missile launchers with them in their APCs.
What isn't much at doubt--and for some, in the absence of several independent witnesses with video footage and fingerprints, the proof may eventually only be 99.9999% sure (meaning there's no definite proof!)--is that the insurgency has scores of tanks, dozens of Grads, scores of APCs and armored fighting vehicles that did not come from Ukraine. In more than a couple of cases serial numbers and other documentation say what military base in Russia they came from and how recently they were there. The rebels would have collapsed in June if not for steady supply of troops and materiel from across the border--and it's so important that even as Slov'yansk was ceded, Severodonetsk fell and Lysychans'k is being fought over, Luhansk is surrounded and Donets'k is the object of fighting, the main activity is two locations: Near Marynivka and Izvaryne. Ever hear of them? The first is the closest border crossing with Russia to Donets'k and only became the object of really serious fighting in the last couple of days as Donets'k was cut off from Luhansk and the east. Izvaryne is the border crossing where Luhans'k gets its supplies from, and if Luhansk is going to be unblockaded and defended that area needs to be firmly under the control of the rebels.
You retreat when you need to throw all your effort into ensuring resupply. And for that they need the Russian border.
The Ukr troops near Marynivka have another complaint. They're being attacked from two different directions. The first is from the Ukrainian side of the border. Their backs are up against the Russian side. But they also get Grad fire from that side. There's nice video footage of a Grad firing at the border post in the east taken from about a mile inside the Russian border. Three different vantage points. Posted by Russians who noticed it and decided to step out and record it, then post it. "Look at this--cool!"
The closest thing to a development here is that reporters have been diverted and have assumed that unless you have guilt established beyond all doubt of Russia's direct involvement in the firing of the missile that downed the plane that Russia is completely non-complicit.
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