An adviser to the Ukraine Interior Minister said pro-Russia separatists shot down the passenger plane with a Russian-made Buk ground-to-air missile system. And residents in the area — a stronghold of pro-Russian rebels who are fighting the Ukrainian army — said one of those systems was nearby.
The Interpreter translated another conversation leaked by the SBU that further corroborates the mounting evidence:
Fighter: Regarding that plane downed in the area of Snezhny-Torez.
Mykola Kozitsin: Yes.
Fighter: It turned out to be a passenger flight. It fell in the area of Grabovo, there is a sea of corpses of women and children. Now the Cossacks are looking at all this.
Fighter: They're broadcasting on TV that this is apparently an AN-26, a Ukrainian, a transport plane, but "Malaysian Airlines" is written on it. What was it doing on the territory of Ukraine?
M. Kozitsin: That means they were bringing in spies, I don't know. You see.
Fighter: Yes, sir.
M. Kozitsin: What the f**k were they flying in here for, there's a war on.