New evidence in the MH17 crash has emerged and suggests the Ukranian air force was responsible for downing the airliner.
A soldier who deserted his battalion and crossed into Russian territory claimed Wednesday that he witnessed a Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-25 fighter being loaded with air-to-air missiles. Such missiles are not normally loaded into Ukrainian jets given that the rebels in the east do not have air power, the soldier explained.
Furthermore, the defector also witnessed the return of the jet, which had no missiles when it landed again. He said that Captain Vladislav Voloshin — who was piloting the fighter jet — told a fellow soldier upon his return: “The plane was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The new evidence is being taken seriously by Russian authorities after they submitted the soldier to a polygraph test and contrasted his version of the story with other evidence and witness accounts.
New reports on the MH17 investigations also seem to point at Kiev's involvement. According to the chief of the investigation department of Ukraine’s Security Service, Vasiliy Vovk, MH17 victims’s bodies contain metal fragments.
However, the origin of the fragments is yet to be determined. If the fragments belong to a missile or to bullets it could determine whether the Ukrainian army or the rebels downed the airliner.
Russian journalist Andrey Karaulov released a documentary early in December claiming that pieces of 30mm rounds were found in the bodies of the pilots, the type of fighter-jet planes used in the Ukrainian air force. But the claim is yet to be confirmed by the International Investigative Commission in charge of determining the responsibility of the crashed flight.
Another report issued earlier this month confirmed that the European Air Navigation and Security Organization recommended that Ukrainian authorities close their airspace, days ahead of the crash. The recommendation came after the regional body had reports of various jet fighters being downed by rebel forces.
The inestigative commission will have to determine whether it was the Ukrainian government or the pro-Russian separatist rebel forces who downed the commercial MH17 flight.