MH17 Most Likely Downed by Surface-To-Air Missile - Dutch Prosecutors

Investigators believe that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was most likely hit by a surface-to-air missile, though the possibility of the plane being downed by an air-to-air missile cannot be excluded, a spokesman for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Wim de Bruin told RIA Novosti that the criminal investigation of the crash is very complex as it has to be concluded in a conflict zone, and the crash site was long inaccessible for investigators.

"The Joint Investigation team is focusing on several scenarios. The most likely is the one in which the MH17 was downed by a ground-to-air missile. But there are still [other] scenarios that can't be excluded. For example the air-to-air scenario," Wim de Bruin told RIA Novosti.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board.

Kiev blamed the Donbass independence supporters in eastern Ukraine for shooting down the plane. However, Donbass militia insisted that they did not possess weapons capable of bringing down an aircraft flying at 32,000 feet. Russia has repeatedly stressed the importance of a transparent international investigation into the tragedy.

The Dutch Safety Board is due to release a final report on the tragedy in October 2015.