The wrecked cockipt of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is presented to the press during a presentation of the final report on the cause of the its crash at the Gilze Rijen airbase October 13, 2015 | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images Missile that downed MH17 originated in Russia After it was fired, the launcher was taken back to Russia from eastern Ukraine, investigators said.

A Dutch prosecutor on Wednesday said a joint investigation concluded the missile that brought down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was brought from Russia to a field near the town of Pervomaisk in eastern Ukraine, a territory occupied by pro-Russian separatists at the time.

After the missile was fired, the launcher was taken back to Russia, according to the prosecutor, who presented preliminary findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), probing the 2014 crash, in which 298 people were killed. Most of the victims were Dutch.

Wilbert Paulissen, chief of the Dutch National Crime Squad, said after examining forensic evidence, they could identify the weapon as "a Buk missile from a 9M 38 series, originated from the Russian Federation."

The international team of prosecutors, led by Dutchman Fred Westerbeke, announced details about the missile and the location from which it was fired, but did not name anyone who could have been responsible for firing it and causing the Boeing 777 aircraft flying on route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur to crash in Ukraine.

Westerbeke said at a press conference that 100 people could be linked to the downing of the plane, but he said it may take years before those responsible for the crash will be named and charged. The mandate of the JIT has been extended to January 1, 2018.

It remains unclear where legal proceedings would take place after Russia vetoed a proposal to set up a special U.N. tribunal that would draft the charges, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported. Also, any prosecution and extradition of suspects would need Russian cooperation.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a response on Twitter, “That the information once again points to the direct involvement of the state-aggressor in downing the aircraft," referring to Russia.

Investigative journalists in April claimed that the Buk missile launcher came from a brigade based in Kursk, Russia. Russian-backed separatists in control of eastern Ukraine deny shooting down the airliner, and Russia insists that its forces have not taken part in the fighting there.

Russia's defense ministry on Monday released new radar data that would suggest the missile could not be fired from territory controlled by pro-Russia fighters.

"The fact that Ukraine has not yet released information from the radar station suggests that the location from which the missile was launched — if it was a Buk — was in territory controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces," Russian Army commander Andrei Koban said, CNN reported.

This story has been updated to include a statement from Ukraine.