Among its major projects , Bellingcat has investigated the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine . Its work is being considered by the Dutch police investigating the crash , and Higgins has been interviewed twice by the investigators . Bellingcat has suggested that the anti-aircraft missile that hit the plane was fired by a Russian unit , the 53rd Buk brigade , based in the city of Kursk . On 31 May 2015 , Bellingcat released a report alleging among other things photo manipulation of satellite images released by the Russian Ministry of Defense . The photos concerned the location of Ukrainian Buk missile launchers around the time MH17 was shot down . Bellingcat 's use of error level analysis in its report was criticized by Jens Kriese , a professional image analyst . Nevertheless , Bellingcat 's findings about which field the missile was fired from were vindicated in September 2016 by the Dutch-led MH17 Joint Investigation Team
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Eliot Higgins