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Report: Malaysia Flight Downed by Russian Missile

CBN

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The Malaysian Airlines plane that blew up over Ukraine last year was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile, a Dutch investigation revealed Tuesday.

All 298 people aboard flight MH-17 died as a result of that surface-to-air missile strike.

Ukraine and Western countries contend the airliner was downed by a missile fired by Russian-backed rebels or Russian forces operating in eastern Ukraine.

The new Dutch report supports that theory. The Dutch Safety Board identified an area of 320 square kilometers from which, it said, the missile that downed MH-17 was launched.

Though it declined to pinpoint the exact launch site, all the territory within the area it identified was in Russian-backed rebel hands at the time of the July 2014 crash.

Russia has contended that if the plane was brought down by a missile, it must have been launched by Ukrainian government forces.

The company that makes the Buk missile is controlled by the Russian government. They say their own investigation contradicts the Dutch report.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Safety Board did fault Ukraine on one serious point, contending that the government should have closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine where the battle was raging.

The chairman of the safety board said Ukrainian authorities had "sufficient reason" to completely close the airspace in that area, but "nobody gave a thought" to the possible threat to civil aviation.

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