--- description: With the White House confirming MH17 was shot out of the air, the question becomes who pulled the trigger? title: Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: Who Shot Down MH17 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d40aa85603b0f0/69869c46e53aba92f14d3a0e/malaysia-airlines-amsterdam-ukraine.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [The Brief](/tag/the-brief/) ## The Brief Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: Who Shot Down Flight MH17? by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 18, 2014 6:28 PM CUT  Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine. Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine.Pierre Crom—Getty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 18, 2014 6:28 PM CUT The White House has confirmed that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over the Ukraine Thursday, but who launched the missile remains a mystery. Ukrainian officials believe Russian separatists fired a ground-to-air BUK missile that downed the plane, but in an interview with TIME, separatists leaders claimed they had nothing to do with the incident. Vladimir Putin tiptoed around the subject, not openly blaming Ukraine for shooting the plane down, but saying they are responsible for creating a climate of political unrest. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3005084/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-search-for-mh17-shooter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3005084/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-search-for-mh17-shooter/"},"headline":"Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: Who Shot Down Flight MH17?","datePublished":"2014-07-18T18:28:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:13:35.458Z","description":"MH17 was shot out of the air, but who pulled the trigger?","url":"https://time.com/3005084/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-search-for-mh17-shooter/","keywords":["The Brief"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d40aa85603b0f0/69869c46e53aba92f14d3a0e/malaysia-airlines-amsterdam-ukraine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28d40aa85603b0f0/69869c46e53aba92f14d3a0e/malaysia-airlines-amsterdam-ukraine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine.","caption":"Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine.","creditText":"Pierre Crom—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/the-brief/","name":"The Brief"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3005084/malaysia-airlines-ukraine-crash-search-for-mh17-shooter/","name":"Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash: Who Shot Down Flight MH17?"}}]}] ```