The Missile That Shot Down the Malaysian Airplane in Ukraine Was in the Possession of the Russian Army

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the downing of the Malaysian airplane four years ago in eastern Ukraine announced for the first time on Thursday that the missile that caused the plane's downing was "in the possession of Russian military units"; Russia immediately denied this accusation. The Malaysian passenger plane, flight MH17, was shot down about four years ago while en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing all 298 people on board. Over the years, the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists have accused each other of downing the plane. The final results of the joint investigation team were announced on Thursday at a press conference in Utrecht, Netherlands. According to Wilbert Paulissen, the head of Dutch investigators, the Russian "Buk" missile that shot down flight MH17 was initially "in the possession of the 53rd Russian missile brigade based in the city of Kursk." The investigation team had previously stated that the cause of the Malaysian airplane's downing was a "Russian Buk missile," but had only mentioned that this missile was transported from Russia to Ukraine and fired from a region controlled by Ukrainian rebels. However, Dutch officials on Thursday, while releasing images and videos, said they had "struggled to reconstruct the missile's route from the city of Kursk to the Ukrainian border." Russia, which has repeatedly denied involvement in the missile strike against the Malaysian airplane, also reacted immediately to the joint investigation team's findings on Thursday. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated in a press release that "not even one anti-aircraft missile" has been "moved across the border between Russia and Ukraine." However, the joint investigation team on Thursday released videos indicating that on June 23, 2014, a convoy of about fifty vehicles carrying a shipment including six Buk-Telar missiles left the city of Kursk, and these missiles were seen multiple times in recorded images in eastern Ukraine about a month later. According to the head of Dutch investigators, each of the Buk-Telar missiles has a "special number that serves as a fingerprint for that missile." The joint investigation team, led by the Netherlands, is investigating about one hundred individuals who may have played a role in the downing of flight MH17, but has not yet disclosed the names of any of these suspects. The investigation team also stated that they are aware of the identities of two individuals who communicate under the aliases "Orion" and "Dolphin." Two audio conversations related to before and after the plane's downing were among the documents released by the joint investigation team, and some research groups have speculated about the owners of these voices. Officials from the investigation team emphasized at the press conference on Thursday that although the investigation is in its final stages, "there are still other tasks remaining" and that "indictments" will follow in subsequent stages. Based on an agreement between the Netherlands and other countries involved in the Malaysian airplane crash case, any suspects arrested in this case will be tried in Dutch courts.