MH17 downed by separatist rebels, new footage reveals

Reuters: New footage that emerged publicly on Thursday (July 16) appeared to show the direct aftermath of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down over eastern Ukraine one year ago leaving all 298 passengers and crew dead.

The footage was obtained by the News Corp. Australia media company and and posted on its website with a full report. The media company said the footage was filmed by separatist rebels at the crash site as they begin to realise the downed plane was a commercial plane and not a Ukrainian air force fighter jet. The report said the separatists had just shot a ground-to-air missile at the plane believing it was a military craft.

News Corp. Australia said they handed the footage over to a multinational joint investigation team this week. Thirty eight of the passengers who died on the plane were Australian citizens.

They also reported that their own investigation "can reveal a unit from Donetsk (in Eastern Ukraine) was dispatched shortly after 3pm local time, two hours after contact by civilian air traffic control was lost at 1.20pm, to hunt Ukrainian pilots who reportedly parachuted after their aircraft was shot down.

The footage they received was 17 minutes long and News Corp posted a much shorter version. They reported that in the footage they saw, the person speaking on the phone as he is filming is a unit commander on site, speaking Russian and Ukrainian, who has been told to look for the wreckage of a military plane and expresses shock at finding the remains are those of a passenger plane.

In Ukraine, the crash site near the village of Hrabove is now marked by flowers and toys brought by locals in memory of the many children who died.

The tragedy marked a turning point in the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels, in which more than 6,500 people have now been killed.

Western governments believe the rebels shot down the plane at cruising altitude with a Russian-supplied BUK missile system, a version based on radio intercepts, photographic and video evidence, witness statements and satellite imagery.

Russia denies involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, and Moscow and the separatists have suggested the plane was downed with a missile fired from a Ukrainian fighter jet, something Kiev denies.

In comments last year, a Russian deputy minister also appeared to allow for the possibility that rebels had shot down MH17 in a failed attempt to hit a Ukrainian military plane.

Dutch authorities have said they are not yet ready to identify culprits, but have called for a U.N. tribunal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that would be "counterproductive and premature," putting Moscow directly at odds with the Netherlands, Malaysia, Belgium, Australia and Ukraine, which are part of the criminal inquiry.

A report on the cause of the crash from the Dutch Safety Board, a preliminary copy of which has been circulated to half a dozen government with nationals onboard, is due in October.

But as the international investigation drags on, the patience of the relatives is wearing thin. Families from several countries have started lawsuits against the airline on the grounds that, unlike some other carriers, it continued to operate flights over a conflict zone where rebels were known to be using anti-aircraft weapons.

At the time, Malaysia's transport minister said MH17 was on an approved international flight path, at the approved altitude, and quoted European aviation authority Eurocontrol as saying 75 airlines had flown the same route in the two days before the disaster.

The deaths of nearly 200 Dutch nationals on the plane have struck deep in the psyche of the nation of 17 million people. Opinion polls suggest a majority of the population holds Russia responsible.

Diplomatic relations with Moscow have deteriorated, and the government is rethinking its reliance on Russian energy.