Donetsk, Sep 29 - DAN. It is the Ukraine authorities that are responsible for Malaysia Airlines MH17 Flight crash that killed 298 people in June 2014, DPR Head Alexander Zakharchenko stated.
"Ukraine is fully culpable for the downing of the Boeing, for failing to prevent the flight. Culprits will be punished," he said.
Zakharchenko repeatedly dismissed claims of any DPR involvement in the atrocity.
The independent joint investigation team (JIT) led by Dutch authorities includes experts from Australia, Malaysia, Ukraine and Belgium, on September, 28 released their interim findings on the investigation. The report claims that MH17 was downed by a missile launched by Buk air defense system brought in from Russia. According to the JIT, the missile was launched from a farmland near Pervomayskoye, to the south of Snezhnoye, which was under control of Donbass militias. So far investigators have not had enough time to analyze Russia-provided data that disproves the findings.
Russia's Defence Ministry said the objectivity of the findings of an international was doubtful. "Investigation findings presented on the briefing are based on two main sources: internet and Ukrainian intelligence. Consequently, the objectivity of such data and the findings based thereon cannot but cause doubt", Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the ministry, said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on 17 July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.