Investigation: Russian Military Missile Downed MH17 Over Ukraine

The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 was Russian, international investigators said Thursday. Some 298 people were killed. A Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia. Moscow has always denied any of its weapons were used, but Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: “All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces.” He said that investigators had been able to trace the convoy to Russia’s 53rd Brigade, based in the city of Kursk. The report concurs with claims by the Ukrainian government that the flight was downed by a Russian-made Buk missile—a Buk launcher was filmed being moved across the Russian border the next day.