Report says MH17 plane was shot down by 'ground-based air defence system'

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was definitely shot down from the ground - by a Buk missile moved into Ukraine from Russia.

A new report from a team of international prosecutors says the Boeing 777 was hit by a "ground-based air defence system".  

Head of the Dutch police investigation, Wilbert Pualissen said: "Based on the criminal investigation, we have concluded that flight MH17 was downed by a BUK missile of the series 9M83, that came from the territory of the Russian Federation."

He added that after the plane had been hit, the missile launcher "was taken back to Russia".

The report said it was unclear whether soldiers had been ordered to fire the missile, or had acted independently. 

Any possibility that MH17 was brought down by another aircraft has been ruled out. 

The team said it had found 100 persons of interest, but individual suspects had not been formally identified. 

Before the report was published, Russia said that according to radar data, the plane was not hit by a rocket fired from territory held in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists.

The investigation team said it had not gained access to new Russian radar images. 

One of the investigators declined to comment on possible Russian involvement. 

Two hundred witnesses were interviewed, and half a million videos and photographs viewed.

Some 150,000 intercepted phone calls were listened to. 

The investigation team was drawn from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine.

Last year, another investigation by the Dutch Safety Board also found the plane was hit by a Buk surface to air missile, a type only made by state-controlled Russian firm Almaz-Antey. 

The weapons company said the model was an old one and was no longer used by Russia.

The board did not touch on which side was likely to be responsible for launching the missile but many, including Ukrainian officials and the West, blame Russian fighters and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Boeing 777 was hit during a flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur on 17 July 2014, killing 298 people on board, most of them Dutch citizens. 

The aircraft fell apart in mid air over rebel-held Ukraine, spreading wreckage over several miles in the country, where Ukrainian government forces were engaged in fierce fighting with pro-Russian separatists. 

In May last year, families of 33 of the victims from Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand, launched legal action against the Russian Federation and Mr Putin.

The incident also played a major part in the imposition of European Union and US sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. 

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