MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpa when it was destroyed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 777 were killed, including 10 Britons. Western governments have accused Russian-backed separatists of shooting down the airliner with a Buk SA-11 missile after mistaking it for a Ukrainian military aircraft. The separatists and the Russian government have in turn blamed Ukraine for the disaster, saying it was downed either by a Ukrainian Buk missile or a fighter jet. An investigation by the Telegraph earlier this year found strong evidence that separatists had been operating a Buk missile launcher in the area of the crash on the day MH17 was downed. Investigators have previously said that shoot down by an anti-aircraft missile is considered a leading theory, but have not publicly ruled out other possible causes of the disaster. An intermediate report published in September concluded only that the Boeing’s fuselage had been penetrated by “multiple high-energy objects” - a type of damage consistent with the cloud of shrapnel sent out by a Buk warhead, but not unique to it. A joint international investigation led by the Dutch Safety Board is due to release its full report into the causes of the crash on Tuesday. A separate criminal investigation, led by Dutch detectives and including teams from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine, is not expected to report before the new year. The criminal investigation is expected to present a dossier of evidence to prosecute charges of murder and possibly warcrimes. Russia in July vetoed a proposal to create a United Nations tribunal consider the evidence presented by the joint criminal investigation, saying such a move was “premature” and citing concerns about the impartiality of the investigation.
Whilst Russia continues to claim that it had nothing to do with the downing of Malasian Airlines flight 17 over eastern Ukraine last year, forensic evidence from missile fragments recovered from the bodies of some of the victims match parts from a couple of 777 missiles dismantled by the joint commission investigating the event. The Dutch authorities are due to publish their full findings on October 13.