The BUK-M isn&#x27;t something where &quot;someone was drunk and decided to give a lesson&quot; -- it&#x27;s the Russian equivalent of a Patriot missile battery, with a platoon-sized crew and several support vehicles (radar and command trucks) needed to fire the thing. Other variants have anti-ballistic missile capability and&#x2F;or nuclear warheads!<p>It&#x27;s quite likely the operators mistook the Boeing 777 for a large Ukrainian military transport aircraft. There are echoes of Iran Air Flight 655 here ...<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Iran_Air_Flight_655" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Iran_Air_Flight_655</a>