MOSCOW (AP) – A year since a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine – killing 298 people – there has been little official word of progress in determining what brought down Flight MH17. One of the probes under way reportedly points toward a ground-to-air missile fired from a village held by Russia-backed separatist rebels, but the report isn’t to be public for months. Another investigation trudges forward with painful slowness, and contradictory theories emerge from Moscow.
A fog of vehement allegations, macabre claims and self-serving rhetoric shrouds the tragedy.
Within hours of the July 17, 2014 crash, a crucial fact appeared clear – the wreckage was strewn over such a wide area that the plane must have broken into bits long before it fell. Most evidence points to the plane, which departed from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, being taken down by a missile over an area controlled by pro-Russia rebels.
And hours before the MH17 went down, AP journalists saw a Buk M-1 launcher moving through the rebel-controlled town of Snizhne, carrying four 18-foot (5.5-meter) missiles. Three hours later and six miles west, the plane was shot down.
Still, no official has confirmed whether the missile was fired from a warplane or from the ground. And nobody has established who fired: the Ukrainian army, the separatist rebels or Russian forces allegedly backing them with troops and arms. An international investigation may be able to answer the first question, but not until at least October. Another probe addressing the second is likely to take until at least next year.