President Barack Obama said Friday that at least one American citizen was killed in the crash of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet near the border of Ukraine and Russia, calling the shooting down of the jet "an outrage of unspeakable proportions."
The president identified Quinn Lucas Schansman, a dual citizen of the U.S. and the Netherlands, as the only American victim identified "at this point" by U.S. officials, who are working through the list of passengers on the commercial airline at the time of the crash.
In remarks at the White House, Obama called the incident a "global tragedy" and called for a credible international investigation of the crash.
Obama confirmed that a surface-to-air missile fired in territory believed to be controlled by Russian separatists brought the plane down but said that it's too early to determine exactly who ordered the strike and why.
"This should snap everybody’s heads to attention," he said, decrying "misinformation" coming out of the region. "We don’t have time for propaganda, we don’t have time for games."
The comments come a day after Obama delivered measured remarks about the downed jet, calling it a “terrible tragedy” but assigning no responsibility for the incident.
Earlier this week, Obama announced escalated sanctions against Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, but European allies of the United States have been reluctant to sign on to the strictest measures due to their dependence on Russian energy sources.
"This certainly will be a wakeup call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine," Obama said Friday. "It is not going to localized. It is not going to be contained."
IN-DEPTH
- Why Was Malaysia Airlines MH17 Flying Over Ukraine? Time, Money
- FBI, NTSB to Send Investigators to Ukraine Site of Jet Crash
- Full NBCNews.com coverage of the Ukraine plane crash
