Ukrainian pilots missing after military says pro-Russia rebels shot down jets

Officials said that two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down by pro-Russia rebels Wednesday and the pilots of those jets are missing.

According to the Times of India, the military has said that pro-Russia separatists downed the jets near where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was downed six days earlier.

"Terrorists have shot down two Ukrainian Su-25 jets," the press office for Kiev's military campaign against the insurgents said in a statement.

TIME has reported that the aircraft were hit by missiles and both pilots were safely ejected, however, their whereabouts at this time are unknown.

Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council said that the two fighter planes were returning to base after supporting Ukrainian government forces along the Russia-Ukraine border.

The jets were shot out of the sky on the same day that transport planes carried victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 tragedy out of the Ukraine and to the Netherlands. The Flight 17 crash killed all 298 people on board.