Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur before it was shot down over Ukraine.
The 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board are all believed to be dead.
Boeing, Malaysia Airlines, the Ukraine government, and the Malaysia government have pledged to investigate what happened.
Russian-backed separatist leader Igor Girkin (who also goes by the name of Strelkov) claimed credit for the shoot down, reported the Kyiv Post.
““The plane has just been taken down somewhere around Torez (Donetsk Oblast). It lays there behind the Progress mine. We did warn you - do not fly in ‘our sky,’” he said.
“And here is the video proving another ‘bird’ falling down. The bird went down behind the slagheap, not in the residential district. So no peaceful people injured. There is also information about another plane shot.”
(Flight Radar)
INFOGRAPHIC: Map locating Shaktarsk, near where Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 crashed #MH17 pic.twitter.com/XnhQs6O5bC
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) July 17, 2014
Strelkov apparently mistook the plane for one of the Ukrainian army.
Ria Novosti says that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama are discussing what happened.
Reuters is reporting that body parts and plane parts are scattered around an approximately seven mile area. Graphic photos allegedly of the scene confirm these reports.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pledged in a statement to get to the bottom of what has happened.
Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak added: ““I am shocked by reports that an MH plane has crashed.”
