--- title: MH17 url: 'https://redpill.akuadora.net/background/mh17' markdown: 'https://redpill.akuadora.net/background/mh17.md' date: '2026-10-22' description: 'Who shot down MH17: the findings of the Joint Investigation Team, the Dutch court ruling of 2022, and Russia’s responsibility.' --- # MH17 ## What happened On **17 July 2014** Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur at 10 km altitude over eastern Ukraine. Near the village of Hrabove it was hit by a **Buk** surface-to-air missile and broke up in the air. All 298 people on board died: 196 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians and others, among them 80 children. ## Who fired the missile The **Dutch Safety Board** established in 2015 that a Buk missile from the 9M38 series brought the plane down, fired from an area in eastern Ukraine held by Russian-led forces. Within months, the open-source investigators of **Bellingcat** had followed the launcher on photos and videos posted by local people, and traced it to a Russian army unit in Kursk. The official investigation later confirmed that work. The **Joint Investigation Team** (JIT) of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine then traced the launcher itself. Using intercepted phone calls, photos and videos posted by local people, and witnesses, it showed that the Buk came from Russia’s **53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade** in Kursk. It was driven across the border into Ukraine, fired the missile from a field near **Pervomaiskyi**, and was driven back to Russia the next morning, one missile short. ## The trial On **17 November 2022** the District Court of The Hague convicted three men in absentia of murdering 298 people and sentenced them to life in prison: - **Igor Girkin** (Strelkov), a former officer of Russia’s FSB security service and at the time the military commander of the Russian-run forces in Donetsk; - **Sergei Dubinsky**, a former officer of Russia’s military intelligence (GRU); - **Leonid Kharchenko**, a Ukrainian commander of a unit fighting for the Russian side. The court found that Russia had **overall control** over the forces in the Donetsk area from mid-May 2014 at the latest. A fourth suspect, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted. Russia refuses to hand anyone over. In **February 2023** the JIT reported “strong indications” that the decision to supply the Buk was taken at the highest level, by **President Putin**. As a head of state he has immunity from that prosecution, so the criminal investigation stopped there. ## The states’ verdicts In **May 2025** the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) found that Russia was responsible for the downing of MH17 under international air law. In **July 2025** the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands, that Russia was responsible for the downing and for the violations of human rights that followed. The Netherlands and Australia want Russia to admit it and pay compensation. ## Russia’s cover-up Within hours of the crash, a social media account of Girkin’s boasted that his fighters had shot down a Ukrainian transport plane. When it turned out to be a passenger jet, the post disappeared. Since then Russia has offered a string of stories that contradict each other: a Ukrainian fighter jet shot it down; a Ukrainian Buk did; the radar data showed something else; the missile’s serial number pointed to Ukraine. Every one of them was checked by investigators and found false. One Russian story is not meant to convince you. Ten contradictory stories are meant to make you believe nobody can know the truth. We do know it. ## Sources - [Dutch Public Prosecution Service: MH17 plane crash](https://www.prosecutionservice.nl/topics/mh17-plane-crash), JIT findings and the trial - [Bellingcat: MH17 investigations](https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/mh17/) and [Bellingcat (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat), on its 2014 report tracing the Buk to the 53rd brigade - [Dutch Safety Board](https://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/en/), final report on the crash of MH17 (2015) - [Government of the Netherlands: Russia responsible for downing of flight MH17](https://www.government.nl/topics/mh17-incident/achieving-justice/russia-responsible-for-downing-of-flight-mh17) (ICAO Council, May 2025) - [Council of Europe: the ECHR holds Russia accountable, including for MH17](https://www.coe.int/en/web/kyiv/-/the-echr-holds-russia-accountable-for-widespread-abuses-of-human-rights-arising-from-the-conflict-in-ukraine-since-2014-including-the-downing-of-flight-mh17) (July 2025) - [Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17) [← All background stories](https://redpill.akuadora.net/background) --- ## Navigation - Parent: [Background](https://redpill.akuadora.net/background.md) - Previous: [Russia’s excuses for the war](https://redpill.akuadora.net/background/excuses.md) - Next: [War crimes](https://redpill.akuadora.net/background/war-crimes.md)