The code on the missile, whose parts were found in a field in eastern Ukraine near where MH17 was shot down, shows it was made in Moscow in 1986. The investigation team said after "extensive comparative investigation" with dozens of images, they could conclude that the "fingerprint" of the Buk-TELAR fitted that from the Russian brigade. The official conclusion, announced by Wilbert Paulissen, the head of the national criminal investigation service of the National Police of the Netherlands backs and confirms the theory of NGO Bellingcat that Russian military missiles were involved. Malaysia Airlines' flight MH17 left Amsterdam bound for Kuala Lumpur but was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

The mid-air explosion killed all 298 people aboard, and set off a diplomatic firestorm. Of the dead passengers, 193 were Dutch and 38 were Australian citizens or residents. On Thursday, Sydney lawyer Michael Hyland, who is acting for eight Australian families who lost loved ones on MH17, said the evidence that the flight was shot down by a Buk missile was compelling. "In my work with families of passengers lost on MH17 they continue to be profoundly impacted by the loss of the family members and the circumstances of that loss," he said in a statement. "Even though four years have passed since the MH17 event, our clients without exception still wish to see justice served." The trail of smoke left by a missile after it was fired by a the Buk-M1 system at MH17 by pro-Russia rebels, according to the Ukraine government. The investigation team announced they had found seven visual "fingerprints" of the Buk-TELAR missile from the 53rd brigade, which matched photos and videos taken both within Russia and inside Ukraine around the time that MH17 was shot down.

They included a transport number which had been partially painted over - which is typically done when a military vehicle is deployed into action. The visual fingerprints were unique to one particular Buk-TELAR belonging to Russia's 53rd brigade and not to any other, the investigators found. Fred Westerbeke, chief prosecutor of the National Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands, said he could still not answer the questions why, and who was responsible for the atrocity, but that the investigation was "steadily progressing". The right forum to reveal and test their conclusions about individuals to blame, he said, was a court, not a press conference. Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop said the fact that a "sophisticated weapon belonging to the Russian Army was dispatched and used to shoot down a civilian aircraft should be of grave international concern.

"We are discussing these findings with our partners and considering our options ... Australia and our JIT partners are united in pursuing justice for those who lost their lives, including 38 people who called Australia home, and their loved ones, and to hold to account those responsible for this atrocious act." New Zealand's foreign minister echoed Bishop's concerns following the finding on flight MH17. "This significant development gives rise to serious questions. The New Zealand Government will assess the latest finding and consider next steps," a statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters' office read, adding the government was "deeply concerned". "New Zealand supports international efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice." Women look at the debris of downed Malaysian flight MH17 cockpit site on the outskirts of Rassypnoye village in the self proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, East Ukraine. Credit:Kate Geraghty

This year’s federal budget included $50 million over the next four years for “national prosecution of those responsible for downing,” MH17, suggesting preparations are well underway for bringing the culprits to court. The money is for Australia’s share of the prosecution costs as well as support for family members of the victims to participate in the court proceedings. The JIT includes Australian Federal Police officers alongside experts from Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. The finding comes after families of some of those who died signed an open letter to the Russian people saying the FIFA World Cup in Russia next month would have a "different, darker meaning" for them. The letter was signed by the relatives of nine victims, including three Australians, who were on board the plane when it was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian Buk missile in July 2014.

They expressed their support for the international team of investigators. "Despite it being nearly four years since our lives were shattered, we struggle to comprehend what happened," the letter says. “We hold the Russian state and its leaders as ultimately responsible for the deaths of our family members. All the credible evidence points in that direction." The signatory families said they had "confidence in the thoroughness and impartiality of the work" of the Joint Investigation Team. The letter writers said they hoped the World Cup would be something that ordinary Russians could take pleasure and pride in. "But we cannot deny that from our perspective, a shadow hangs over this event. We are painfully

aware of the dark irony that the Russian leaders who will profess to welcome the world with open arms, are those who are chiefly to blame for shattering our world. Victim: Jack O'Brien "And that it is these same leaders who have persistently sought to hide the truth, and who have evaded responsibility ever since that dreadful day in July 2014." The letter is signed by Jon and Meryn O’Brien, parents of Jack, who was among 298 who lost their lives, including 38 Australian citizens and residents. Jack O'Brien was returning from a seven-week holiday in Europe when he boarded the Malaysia Airlines flight in Amsterdam.

It is also signed by Paul Guard, who lost his parents Jill and Roger, and other bereaved families from the UK and the Netherlands. Lawyer Michael Hyland said he had no doubt there were still witnesses who were afraid to come forward. "But we hope their humanity prevails and that they contact the Joint Investigative Team on an anonymous basis." He is acting for families including the son of Sydney teacher Gabriele Lauschet, who worked at the German International School in Terrey Hills and who was engaged to be married. Tim Lauschet was forced to sell the family home and has had to give up his job due to the loss of his mother. He previously told Fairfax Media, the ordeal had left him "angry and shattered".

"I'm trying to put my life back together but it's really hard and Malaysia Airlines is not helping," he said. Loading In 2016, in its previous interim report, the JIT announced that MH17 had been hit by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from the village of Pervomaysk held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine; and that the missile launcher had been transported into Ukraine from Russia. It reached this conclusion based on wire taps, photographs, witness statements and forensic tests. Within days the international community began an investigation. Australian Federal Police and Defence Force members were dispatched to secure the site and begin an examination and collection of debris.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop undertook an active campaign of engagement with Dutch and other European nations to respond to the event. The first report on the explosion released in September that year concluded that damage to the plane came from "a large number of high-energy objects from outside the aircraft." Then-prime minister Tony Abbott pledged to "shirtfront" Russian President Vladimir Putin when he came to Australia for the G20 Summit in Brisbane in November 2014. The rear fuselage of flight MH17 at the Ukrainian crash site in 2014. Credit:Kate Geraghty Putin was criticised for Russia's incursion into Ukraine at the summit, and the President left early, but in the end, Abbott's dealing with him were cordial.

Loading On Thursday, Abbott said the findings had vindicated Australia’s tough stance on Russia, and demanded Mr Putin issue an apology and compensation to the victims. “This confirms what I’ve been saying almost from day one,” he told Fairfax Media. “There is now a very heavy onus on President Putin and Russia to apologise abjectly and make restitution to the families of those who have been killed. “If Russia continues to deny responsibility it will be hard to avoid the conclusion that it has become a rogue state.”

Kremlin-friendly media outlets pushed out a surge of misinformation and counter-narratives around the event, claiming that a Ukrainian jet fighter shot the plane down, then that a Ukrainian missile did. Loading However, Bellingcat, a British-based open-source investigation group, culled maps, social media postings and other evidence online to show that a Russian's anti-aircraft missile brigade was behind the shooting-down of the plane. In July 2015 at the United Nations, Julie Bishop lobbied for a tribunal to prosecute those who were to blame. The draft was vetoed by Russia an act, she said, which "only compounds the atrocity".