Dutch Safety Board report confirms Russian missile hit MH17

The Dutch Safety Board released its final report on Tuesday, confirming that the Malaysia Airline MH17 that crashed on July 17, 2014 was struck by a Russian-made BUK missile.

The Dutch investigators presented the partial reconstruction of the damaged cockpit of MH17 and the destroyed business class at the Gilze-Rijen military airbase in the Netherlands. The parts were recollected from the Donetsk region and then reconstructed.

The missile hit the front left portion of the airplane, causing destruction to the Boeing 777 as it was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam with 298 passengers, 196 of whom were Dutch and 38 were Australians. The report also criticised Ukrainian forces for leaving the air space above the war zone open.

“Flight MH17 crashed as a result of detonation of a warhead outside the airplane against the left-hand side of the cockpit,” Dutch Safety Board’s Chairman Tjibbe Joustra said in a press conference. “This warhead fits the kind of missile that is installed in the BUK surface-to-air missile system.”

The West and Ukraine blamed Russian forces for the incident, while Russia said it’s the fault of Ukrainian forces. “I personally have no doubt that this was a planned operation of the Russian special services aimed at downing a civilian aircraft,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in a cabinet meeting.

Missile maker Almaz-Antey claimed that the tests showed the use of the BUK, which is no longer used by Russia. Also, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly’s Europe Editor Nick de Larrinaga told AFP that the evidence did not prove the surface-to-air missile that hit MH17 remained in Russian military forces at the time of the crash.

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told breakfast show “Sunrise” on Wednesday that she is sure that MH17 was “in fact” brought down by a Russian manufactured missile.

The Dutch report also contained 11 recommendations to ensure improvement of safety measures for civilian aircrafts. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte contacted Russia and asked it to cooperate with the investigators to find out those who are actually responsible for the MH17 crash.

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