Prosecutors: Possible BUK missile parts found at MH17 site

The global group of specialists conducting a criminal investigation into the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 is examining “several parts, possibly originating from a Buk surface-air-missile system”, the Dutch Safety Board reported on Tuesday.

Experts and Western governments have accused pro-Russian rebels of shooting down the passenger aircraft, but Moscow says it was hit by a Ukrainian fighter jet rocket.

But Russian Federation last month vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have created an global tribunal tasked with putting on trial those identified as the culprits.

The Joint Investigation Team carrying out the criminal probe into the crash consists of the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Malaysia and Belgium. Parts of the airplane have been brought to the Netherlands for reconstruction at the Gilze-Rijen air base.

Experts will likely be able to determine from the fragments whether it was a Buk missile and possibly which version, said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the worldwide Institute for Strategic Studies. “These parts have been secured during a previous recovery-mission in Eastern-Ukraine and are in the possession of the criminal investigation team MH17 and the Dutch Safety Board”, it said in a press release.

It is the first time that possible evidence of a missile has been discovered.