Russian missile brought down MH17, investigation concludes

An international criminal investigation into the shooting down of flight MH17 concludes that a Russian Buk missile brought down the plane and that it was fired from a Russian-held area of the Ukraine

Last updated on 28 September 2016, 4:01pm

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All 298 people onboard the plane were killed

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian Buk missile brought across the border from Russia and fired from a village under the control of pro-Russian rebels, an international criminal investigation has said.

In a press conference on Wednesday in Nieuwegein, in the Netherlands, the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said there was conclusive evidence that a Buk 9M38 missile hit the Boeing 777, killing all 298 people on board.

Wilbert Paulissen, the head of the Dutch national detective force, said: “The missile was shot down by a Buk. This Buk was brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the launch unit was subsequently returned to Russian Federation territory.”

Paulissen said the missile had been fired from an arable field 6km south of the village of Snizhne. “At the time of the launch this territory was under the control of pro-Russian fighters,” he said.

The farmland near Pervomaiske “can be pointed out as the launch site without any doubt”, Paulissen said, saying that witnesses reported a “loud explosion and a high whistling sound” followed by a smoke trail in the sky.

MH17 crashed about 25km away from where the Buk missile was fired, Paulissen said, at about 4.20pm on 17 July, 2014. Satellite data provided by the US and the European Space Agency confirmed the launch site, he said.