MH17 crash: Ukrainian official claims shrapnel in victims' bodies from Russian-made BUK missiles

A senior officer of the Ukrainian Security Service has claimed that shrapnel found in the bodies of MH17 victims are from Russian-made BUK missiles. Vasyl Vovk has also alleged that Russia's defence minister must have known that the Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down in support of pro-Moscow rebels.

Vovk, who was part of the International Joint Investigations Team (JIT) probing the plane crash, said he had "evidence that the BUK was ordered by the terrorists and that Russian politicians and high-ranking military knew (it was) brought to Ukraine in July last year, aiming to knock down a plane".

"The transportation of a weapon like a BUK through the Russian - and shooting from it without any instruction from above - is not possible. Soldiers were not able just to take this heavy weapon away. The Russian minister of defence must have known about it," Vovk was quoted as saying by The Mirror.

The JIT said evidence pointed to a BUK missile downing MH17 but that it was not blaming Russia and also not excluding other possibilities leading to the crash of the plane.

With the Dutch Safety Board's report due next week, a senior Russian official said: "It is up to the Dutch Safety Board to announce the official results of the technical investigation. It will make public the final report on the MH17 crash causes on 13 October. Until then we will refrain from making untimely comments and urge others to do the same."

"The Russian side as an official participant of the investigation commission had received the final draft of the report. We immediately voiced our opinion on the document and our serious objections to some of its conclusions and passed them on to the Dutch authorities."

MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 passengers on board when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July, 2014.