Malaysia Airlines Flight 17: Russian Report Says Military Aircraft Shot MH17 Down

Pieces of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane are seen near village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. The Dutch team investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine says the crash was likely caused by the plane being hit by multiple "high-energy objects from outside the aircraft." The preliminary report published Tuesday by the Dutch Safety Board stopped short of saying the Boeing 777 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, but its findings appear to point to that conclusion. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the jetliner that was reportedly shot down in Ukraine in July, was actually shot down by a military aircraft, according to a report from state-run Russian broadcaster Russia Today.

It’s been mostly reported in the West that Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot down the plane with a surface-to-air missile.

RT, in a documentary, says that “eye-witness interviews and expert opinion” suggests it was shot by a military aircraft.

“The film attempts to establish what might have brought down the ill-fated airliner and all 298 people aboard,” RT’s website said, according to the National Post.

The trailer, posted on YouTube this week, has “witnesses” who are claiming that they saw a second aircraft that may have shot the plane down. “New witness testimony, radio links, site access as team seeks to establish what happened to MH17. Locals speak of a horror and shock. Some of a second plane; experts of 30mm cannon bulletholes. Will the truth of MH17 ever be revealed?” it says.

“I lifted my head and saw a small military aircraft in the sky. So I’m 100% sure there was a second aircraft,” said one man. Added another man: “Aircraft MH-17 was crippled by an air-to-air missile, and as it descended, it was finished off by cannon fire.”

The theory has been promoted on Russian propaganda channels.

Meanwhile, reports this week say Germany has said Ukraine rebels shot the plane down with seized missiles.

Germany’s BND foreign spy agency chief, Gerhard Schindler, said that gathered intelligence indicates the rebels captured a BUK missile system and fired a missile that exploded next to the plane, according to the AFP news agency.

The plane, heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17 with 298 people on board.

Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said the claims by Germany are unfounded.

“These accusations against us are without any basis,” he said, and added that the missiles “only be fired by well-trained experts.”

“The former miners who are today defending their country do not have the expertise to operate such a sophisticated system,” he added.