MH17 missle ‘owned by Russian brigade’

The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 nearly four years ago killing all 298 people on board came from a Russia-based military unit, an international team of investigators said.

Wilbert Paulissen, of the Dutch National Police, said the missile was from the Russian military’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.

He was speaking at a presentation of interim results of the long-running investigation into the downing of the Boeing 777, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was blown out of the sky over Ukraine on 17 July 2014.

Prosecutors said in 2016 that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile fired from territory controlled by Russia-backed rebels. But yesterday’s presentation went a step further by identifying the exact unit allegedly involved and more details of the rocket involved.

Russia has always denied involvement in the downing of the jet.