MH17 missile 'came from Russia', Dutch-led investigators say

International prosecutors say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine in 2014 by a Buk missile that had come from Russia.

They also narrowed down the area it was fired from to a field in territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels.

All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Russia says it cannot accept the findings as the final truth, saying no Russian weapons were taken to Ukraine.

"Based on the criminal investigation, we have concluded that flight MH17 was downed by a Buk missile of the series 9M83 that came from the territory of the Russian Federation," chief Dutch police investigator Wilbert Paulissen told a news conference on Wednesday.

The missile had been taken from Russia to rebel-held Ukraine in the morning of 17 July, when the plane was shot down, and the launcher was taken back to Russia the next day, he said.

The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has also narrowed the missile launch site down to a specific field near the village of Pervomaiskyi, which was then in rebel hands.

In an interview with the BBC, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was "nothing to accept or deny", as he understood these were preliminary findings.

"We cannot accept as final truth of what they say. I bet you haven't seen any proof of what they say," he told the Hardtalk programme, adding: "We know the devil is in the detail, and we are still missing lot of the detail."

But he appeared to rule out that the missile came from Russia: "We've been ruling out the fact that any Russian weapons were shipped to Ukraine, any Russian army members, any Russian troops were inside Ukraine. And we're still ruling out that possibility."

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko hailed the inquiry's initial findings, saying: "We have solid proof of who is to blame for this dreadful crime."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the preliminary findings "an important step on the road to the ultimate goal: finding and prosecuting the perpetrators", whereas the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said his country sought "firm action" so that those responsible "will be brought to justice".

Who gave the order?

Justice is exactly what the relatives of the victims want.

"Apart from wanting to know exactly what weapon was used and where it was fired from, we also want an answer as to where we go from here," said Evert van Zijtveld, who lost his 18-year-old son Robert-Jan and daughter Frederique, 19, in the tragedy.

"We want to see the perpetrators caught and put on trial," he told the AFP news agency.

JIT prosecutors have established the identities of about 100 people "linked to the crash or the transport of the Buk" missile, but they are yet to determine who could be held criminally responsible.

They will need to establish who gave the order to move the missile launcher into eastern Ukraine, and where the order for it to be fired came from. All of this will take time, they say.

Many witnesses

Prosecutors played recordings from intercepted phone calls during their news conference.

They said witnesses reported seeing the missile launcher move from Russia into Ukraine and presented pictures and videos.

The launch site was pinpointed by "many witnesses", prosecutors said.