Malaysia Airlines MH17 Shot Down by Ukrainian Jet Fighter to Assassinate Russian Leader Vladimir Putin – Reports

The ill-fated Malaysia Airlines MH17 was accidentally shot down July this year by the Ukrainian air force and the tragedy according to new reports was the direct result of Kiev's failed bid to assassinate Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Flight MH17 exploded mid-air and crashed July 17 in a region controlled by pro-Moscow Ukrainian separatist rebels. All 298 passengers and crews, including 38 Australians, perished.

The aviation disaster was suspected caused by a surface-to-air missile fired from the rebels' side that mistook the commercial aircraft for a Ukrainian military plane, which the separatists have vehemently denied.

Also, Kremlin has long maintained that Kiev is to be blamed for the attack.

Ukraine plotted to kill Putin

And in what appears as fresh claims that Kiev has blood on its hands for the numerous civilian deaths, reports from Russia are saying that the Ukraine attacked MH17 by mistake trying to eliminate Putin.

The information came from Russia's television program Moment of Truth and the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, which the UK-based Daily Mail noted are known as Kremlin-friendly media outlets.

The reports have stated that the Ukrainian air force Su-25 jet fighter was tasked to shot down Putin's official aircraft Plane Number One. Unfortunately, Plane Number One's Ilyushin build, which was reportedly scheduled to fly over the rebel-controlled area on the day of the attack, had an identical silhouette with the Boeing plane that was used in Flight MH17.

The military jet ended up downing the Malaysia Airlines flight instead. Evidences presented by the Russian media reports suggested too that combination of 30mm canon shots from the Su-25 and an anti-aircraft missile that was launched from the ground as the weapons used on the doomed plane.

"Pieces of 30mm rounds were found in the bodies of the (MH17) pilots," said the Daily Mail on its report, somehow indicating that the Su-25 pilot first targeted the commercial plane's cockpit area that was then followed by the missile that blew the aircraft into pieces.

Elaborate conspiracy

The reports identified as well a prominent figure involved in the failed assassination try on Putin. Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi was pinpointed as the brain behind the attack. Kolomoyskyi is widely regarded as a vocal critic and enemy of Putin.

The Ukrainian billionaire is said to have been tipped off that Putin's Plane Number One flight plan on July 17 2014 included a pass over on the same route that was taken by MH17.

Two more names surfaced as part of the plot - Ukrainian top-gun pilot Lt Col Dmitro Yakatsuts and air traffic controller Anna Petrenko. Yakatsuts piloted the Su-25 linked to MH17 shooting down while Petrenko, described by Daily Mail as "glamorous," was said to be in-charge of MH17 when it was flying over Ukraine.

The two have since disappeared and the last sighting of the couple was in Dubai, according to Russian media reports.

Following Putin's annexation of Crimea, tension between Russia and Ukraine remain over the former's reported incursions on the Ukrainian border and explicit support of rebels fighting for independence from Kiev.