Russian committee announces anonymous testimony in similar development to photographs released in November that were dismissed as fakes

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A shadowy Russian organisation claiming to be investigating the MH17 crash has claimed that a Ukrainian pilot fired a missile on the day the Malaysia Airlines plane went down, killing 298 people.



The group said a witness, who was not named, worked at an airfield in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk where he claimed to have seen a warplane take off on 17 July with air-to-air missiles and return without them, a Russian report said.

The group describing itself as a Russian investigative committee said the testimony of the man “is important proof that Ukrainian military was implicated in the crash of the Boeing 777”.

However, previous claims of Ukrainian involvement in shooting down the civilian passenger jet have been roundly dismissed. Efforts to shift the blame from the Kremlin have extended to supposed satellite photos that were said to implicate the Ukrainians but were quickly identified as crude fakes and dismissed.

The MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, who have been fighting Kiev forces since April.

Ukraine and the west say a Russian surface-to-air missile launcher was used to shoot it down but Russia has issued several opposing theories.

On Thursday the Ukrainian government and separatists concluded “difficult” marathon talks without agreeing the date of a new round aimed at ending the pro-Russian uprising devastating the ex-Soviet state’s industrial east.

The five-hour preliminary discussion in the Belarussian capital Minsk had been tentatively due to be followed by a second meeting on Friday at which a final accord was to be signed. But separatist representatives stressed that they could not yet promise whether the negotiations would resume as planned.

“We had a difficult preliminary meeting,” Donetsk separatist region mediator Denis Pushilin told a pro-separatist news site. “The date and time of the next meeting is still up in the air. It is under discussion.”

Dutch authorities have been charged with establishing exactly what brought down the plane and are reconstructing part of the aircraft as part of their inquiry. Preliminary findings indicate only that the plane broke apart due to damage that came from outside.

