Kuchma vows action over air crash

After a series of disasters, President Kuchma said: "We have to draw a line under this once and for all"

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has publicly blamed the military for last weekend's air show disaster in which 83 spectators died.

Kuchma questioned on Thursday how scarce defence funding was used to finance the Lviv air show and has promised to push ahead with reform of the military. (Story)

He has sacked the country's air force chief and the head of the armed forces, but he refused to accept the resignation of his defence minister.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the Ukrainian navy in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, he said: "How is it possible to understand when the army, working with insufficient funds, completing difficult work for our countrymen, spends its money not on raising the defence capability of the state, but on an entertainment show?

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Authorities say military to blame for allowing spectators in the path of a jet that crashed (July 29) Play video   MORE STORIES • Safety rules have tightened  • Eyewitness: Crash horror    EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: Images of the crash  • Facts: The Sukhoi Su-27  • Timeline: Air show crashes

"I want to note that the guilty must be punished. And just those, those with direct and full responsibility for the tragedy. Not the second-class, little men."

Kuchma said the Lviv tragedy -- officially the world's worst air show disaster -- and an explosion in a mine in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday that killed at least 19, had overshadowed naval celebrations to mark 10 years of independence. (Mine disaster)

He said: "I am sure the incomplete reform process in the military and the difficulties of that work made the tragedies of recent times possible.

"We have to draw a line under this once and for all."

Following the Lviv disaster, Ukraine's air force chief Viktor Strelnykov, and Petro Shulyak, the head of the armed forces and acting defence minister, were sacked.

But Kuchma said on Thursday said he had not accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Volodymyr Shkidchenko.

"I have not accepted the resignation of the defence minister and have offered that he continue his work," said Kuchma.

The plane ploughed across the airfield and exploded in a giant fireball

Strelnykov was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying the Sukhoi Su-27 jet crashed because the pilots, who ejected safely from the plane, failed to carry out orders.

The prosecutor general detained four top military officials on Sunday for negligence, saying serious errors on their part had contributed to the crash.

He also said the pilots, who were still being treated in hospital, were partly to blame.

A military court ruled there was not enough evidence to arrest and charge Strelnykov but said it had increased his detention period to 10 days to continue an investigation.