Dutch to report MH17 missile origin
A Dutch investigation into flight MH17 will confirm the Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine last year was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile.
The report by the Dutch Safety Board, a government transport watchdog, will be published this week during the unveiling of a partial reconstruction of the Boeing 777, which was pieced together from debris collected from the crash site.
Experts retrieved shrapnel from the missile in the remains of the plane, as well as from the bodies of the 298 passengers and crew, all of whom died in the disaster on July 17 last year.
Sources close to the investigation told The Sunday Times the report will confirm the damage to the aircraft was consistent with a mid-air strike by an exploding missile such as the BUK.
It should put an end to claims the plane was downed by an air-toair missile fired by a Ukrainian jet fighter – one of a range of conflicting theories put out by the Kremlin to deflect attention from the pro-Russian rebels who were widely blamed for the attack.
‘‘Of course, people will always be able to speculate but our report will provide all the factual evidence and we are pretty confident in our conclusions,’’ a source close to the investigation said.
The report is also expected to recommend that commercial aircraft stop flying over conflict zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali.
The blast from the missile was so powerful it ripped the plane apart, sending human remains and debris raining down on the village of Snizhne below.
The territory is controlled by Russian-backed separatist militias, who have officially denied any involvement.
But evidence – including statements by separatists, Ukrainian intelligence phone intercepts and images of a BUK launcher photographed in the area – indicate that Russia provided the weapon to rebel militias, who then shot down flight MH17 believing it to be a Ukrainian warplane.
‘‘The plane was shot down by mistake,’’ said a separatist who commands several hundred troops.
‘‘When the BUK was first delivered, the separatists laughed. Who in the hell knows how to use this thing? In fact, it’s much easier to operate than we’d imagined.’’
The BUK launcher that fired the missile reportedly originated from the Russian army’s 53rd Brigade near Kursk .
However, Almaz-Antey, the Russian maker of BUK missiles, has announced it will unveil the ‘‘real reason’’ for the disaster at the same time as publication of the Dutch report.
It has claimed the particular model has not been produced in Russia since 1999 and is in the arsenal of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The Dutch investigation, which lasted 15 months and cost more than euros 4 million (£2.9m), involved both Ukraine and Russia, as well as the countries from which most of the victims hailed – Malaysia, the UK, America and Australia.
In July Moscow vetoed a UN resolution to establish an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible.
Ukraine has also been criticised for failing to shut down the airspace above the conflict zone despite knowing the rebels possessed the means to down aircraft flying at such high altitude.
Just three days before the MH17 tragedy, a Ukrainian military aircraft, AN-26, was shot down from an altitude of 6500 metres (21,300ft).
A separate report by Dutch prosecutors, who have the job of finding who was responsible for the attack, will not be published until the middle of next year at the earliest.
Investigators have struggled with their search for information because of lack of access to the crash site and to witnesses and potential suspects.