MH17: why the culprits may never be caught - Telegraph
▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10993020/MH17-why-the-culprits-may-never-be-caught.html
The Telegraph’s own inquiries suggest the missile – an SA-11 from a Buk mobile rocket launcher – was possibly fired from a cornfield about 12 miles to the south of the epicentre of the crash site. Scorch marks in the soil indicate where the rocket’s propulsion system may have set fire to the crops.
The location of the site tallies with a surveillance photograph, released by Ukraine’s intelligence service, showing a signature trail of smoke emanating from beyond a hill in rebel-held eastern Ukraine. The Telegraph’s investigation corroborates analysis by Ukraine at War, a pro-Kiev English-language blog, showing that the smoke trail appears to originate from the direction of the cornfield which was purportedly left by the SA-11 missile after its launch.
The photograph appears to have been taken from a high-rise apartment block overlooking the area.
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“It will be almost impossible to say who pushed the button,” said Reed Foster, head of the armed forces capabilities team at the intelligence and security analysts IHS Jane’s Defence. “The evidence at the crash site will not tell you if it was a Ukraine or Russian operator of the Buk launcher.”
“It is very easy for the Russians to maintain plausible deniability. The launch site needs to be found and treated like a crime scene. There will be telltale signs of chemical residue where the rocket motor has ignited the flora and fauna. But even once you have identified the site it is still difficult to know who the persons were at that location.” Debris from the crash scene will at some stage be removed and analysed. Photographs taken of Boeing 777 debris shows the metal skin perforated with a number of similar sized holes. The evidence is consistent with a ground-to-air missile attack from a Buk-launched SA-11 missile, said Mr Foster.
Shrapnel from the missile is likely to be scattered at the crash site, stretching over about eight square miles.
Vital evidence such as the missile casing and rocket motor, containing factory serial numbers, could have been removed by now by the rebel militia who control the area.
Even if the casing and motor is found, Russian-made SA-11 missiles are in possession of both sides in the conflict.
Les premières indications des “boites noires” confirment un impact de missile.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 black box findings consistent with blast - CBS News
▻http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-17-black-box-findings-consistent-with-blast
Unreleased data from a black box retrieved from the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine show findings consistent with the plane’s fuselage being hit multiple times by shrapnel from a missile explosion.
“It did what it was designed to do,” a European air safety official told CBS News, “bring down airplanes.”
The official described the finding as “massive explosive decompression.”