Missile parts found in probe of Ukraine 777 crash

An international team of criminal investigators is inspecting missile parts recovered from the eastern Ukraine site of last year’s crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in hopes of determining who is responsible for downing the plane, killing all 298 people on board.

Seven pieces of debris brought to a military laboratory in the Netherlands are believed to have come from a missile, which a separate Dutch-led safety investigation has already indicated was a probable cause of the disaster. An initial examination suggests the parts came from a Russian-made Buk ground-to-air rocket, some members of Dutch Safety Board investigation told the media.

A statement issued Tuesday by the Joint Investigation Team of international prosecutors probing the July 17, 2014, disaster said it was too early to draw conclusions as to who was responsible for shooting down the Boeing 777. The aircraft was en route from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur when it exploded and fell to the ground in eastern Ukraine territory controlled by pro-Russia separatist forces.

“The parts are of particular interest to the criminal investigation as they can possibly provide more information about who was involved in the crash of MH17,” the prosecution panel said of the missile debris. “For that reason, the JIT further investigates the origin of these parts.”

Australia lost 38 citizens in the disaster and has investigators working on both the criminal probe and the air safety examination, the latter also including Malaysia, Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Britain. Newspapers in Australia and CNN last month reported having been shown a draft of the safety investigators’ report that suggests the missile that brought down MH17 was a Russian-made Buk fired from rebel-held territory.

Ukrainian officials and their Western allies have accused Russia of fomenting the separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine and arming the insurgents, some of whom want the Ukrainian territory they have seized to be annexed to Russia.

Moscow denies backing the separatists, but the Kremlin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014 was seen as an instigation for the pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine. The Crimean land grab provoked international denunciation and sanctions that have contributed to Russia’s recent economic decline.

Flight safety experts are meeting in the Netherlands this week to review the Dutch Safety Board’s proposed final report on the MH17 disaster, due to be made public in October. The meeting is intended “to hash out their final conclusions after a two-month review of a draft report,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The newspaper said the session was expected to be contentious because the Russian delegation is “unhappy with the draft report’s conclusion that blames Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east.”

Russia last month used its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block the creation of an international tribunal to identify and punish those found responsible for the disaster.

The safety experts are also examining a reconstruction of the doomed plane’s cockpit and forward passenger sections, put together at the Gilze-Rijen air base in the Netherlands from wreckage recovered this year when the international forensic investigators were finally given safe access to the crash site.

The Joint Investigation Team’s report aimed at determining responsibility for the disaster is unlikely to be completed until the end of the year, participants have said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.